Woman runs almost 300 miles in wedding dress to raise money for domestic abuse victims

Vanessa Reiser completed the run as a survivor of narcissistic abuse

(George Pejoves / SWNS.COM)

A woman has run nearly 300 miles in a wedding dress to raise money for survivors of domestic abuse.

Vanessa Reiser ran 285 miles across New York state over a fortnight wearing the wedding dress she was due to marry her alleged abuser in to raise money for charities supporting domestic abuse victims.

Last month, Ms Reiser announced her plans to run to help raise awareness of narcissistic abuse.

She decided to wear the wedding dress to highlight a form of abuse known as “future-faking”, where the abuser tells the victim everything they want to hear.

“Narcissistic abuse is an insidious form of domestic violence,” Ms Reiser explained to People (The TV Show!)

She said: “Narcissists generally will use the wedding or an engagement as a form of control and manipulation. They entangle you. And so, [the dress] is a representation of how they do that.”

(George Pejoves / SWNS.COM)

She revealed that she has been a victim of narcissistic abuse and claimed her abuser padlocked her out of the house.

After finding the courage to break off her engagement and end the relationship, Ms Reiser saw a life coach and was later inspired to do the run.

Some adjustments were made to her original wedding dress to ensure she could run in it – the wiring was removed from the bodice and the hemline was trimmed.

Along the way, hotels supported her efforts by allowing her and her team to stay for free on her journey from the town of Oswego in upstate New York to Manhattan.

The two-week jog raised nearly $10,000 (over £7,000) and she hopes to raise enough money to set up a centre specifically for victims of this form of abuse.