Just over six months after welcoming her baby boy, and nearly two years after experiencing a loss that changed her life forever, Dani Reilly has accomplished something she once only dreamed of.

The former The Block contestant has crossed the finish line of the New York City Marathon, completing the gruelling 42.2km challenge in memory of her daughter, Billie.

But what unfolded on the streets of New York was far from the race Dani had imagined.

After three months of preparation, the mother of two had hoped to finish in under four hours and 30 minutes. Instead, an ongoing injury forced her to abandon that ambition, turning what was supposed to be a triumphant run into a painful journey towards the finish.

Yet Dani refused to give up.

Finishing in five hours, 43 minutes and 42 seconds, she later shared an emotional reflection on an experience she admitted had left her both disappointed and incredibly grateful.

And behind every kilometre was a much bigger reason for taking part — ensuring her little girl’s name continues to make a difference.

A dream that began before everything changed

Dani had originally planned to take on the New York City Marathon in 2024.

However, after discovering she was pregnant with Billie, she put those plans on hold.

Billie Vera Reilly was born on December 8, 2024. She was desperately wanted and deeply loved by Dan and Dani, who had spent three years trying to become parents, including undergoing IVF.

But their happiness soon became heartbreak.

After spending her first days in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Billie passed away on December 18, 2024, at just 10 days old.

The couple announced the devastating news publicly two days later, describing the overwhelming love and pain their daughter had brought into their lives.

“In Billie’s short time in this world, she taught us an intensity of both love and pain we never knew possible,” they wrote.

They also expressed their gratitude to the doctors, nurses and NICU staff at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital, who cared for Billie and supported the family during those precious days.

For Dan and Dani, her short life would leave a lasting legacy.

Turning heartbreak into something that could help other families

Following Billie’s passing, Dan and Dani established Billie’s Besties, a charitable initiative created in their daughter’s memory.

The organisation aims to support vulnerable babies and families navigating neonatal care, grief and loss, while helping fund important equipment and programs for hospital neonatal units.

The initiative was inspired by the extraordinary care their family received during Billie’s 10 days in hospital.

For Dani, fundraising became a way to give something back to the people who had cared for her daughter and helped them create precious memories during an incredibly difficult time.

She has explained that the charity was never about making grief disappear.

Rather, it gave the family a way to direct the love they still felt for Billie towards helping others.

The New York Marathon became one of their biggest fundraising challenges yet, with Dani determined to use the extraordinary event to raise awareness and support for the cause.

It was no longer simply a personal sporting ambition. Every kilometre had a meaning beyond the finish time.

A new baby, another chapter and a very different kind of training

In April 2026, Dan and Dani welcomed their son, Fletcher James Reilly.

He arrived on April 10, bringing enormous happiness to the family after the heartbreak of losing Billie.

But Dani has never suggested that welcoming another child meant leaving her grief behind.

In a moving reflection shared around Fletcher’s arrival, she described the complicated emotions of holding her newborn son while remembering the daughter she had lost.

“Longing for one while celebrating the other. One only possible without the other,” she wrote.

She also imagined how wonderful Billie would have been as a big sister.

By the time Dani travelled to New York for the marathon on November 1, Fletcher was just over six months old.

The physical demands of preparing for a 42.2km race were particularly significant.

In her post-race reflection, Dani revealed that two babies had been born via C-section within 16 months, she was six and a half months postpartum, and she had spent 22 months navigating grief.

She also had not run for more than two years.

And despite all of that, she had given herself just three months to prepare.

It was an extraordinary undertaking, even before the difficulties of race day began.

The injury that changed everything after 13 kilometres

Dani had arrived in New York with a clear target: completing the marathon in less than four hours and 30 minutes.

But an ongoing ITB injury had other plans.

In an emotional Instagram post after the event, she revealed that the pain began to become noticeable by the 13km mark.

By 24km, she could barely walk.

Every time she tried to start running again, her knee would give way, forcing her to slow down and abandon the pace she had worked so hard to achieve.

What she had imagined as the race of her life became an exhausting walk towards the finish line.

“5 hours, 43 minutes, 42.2km and an experience I’ll never forget,” she began.

She openly admitted that she was disappointed.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. I worked so hard to get here, and not being able to give it the crack I’d dreamed of was heartbreaking.”

It was an honest admission from someone who had invested so much physically and emotionally in reaching that starting line.

But even as her original goal slipped away, Dani continued moving forward.

The moment that made the entire journey worthwhile

Among all the thousands of people who lined the streets of New York, one particular moment stayed with Dani more than anything else.

It happened around mile seven, when she spotted her little boy Fletcher.

Despite being in the early stages of the race, when she was still feeling relatively comfortable, seeing his smiling face became her favourite memory of the entire day.

“And my favourite moment of the entire race? Seeing my beautiful Fletch’s smiling face at mile 7, when I was still feeling good. A moment I’ll hold onto forever,” she wrote.

She had travelled across the world, pushed herself through months of preparation and taken on one of the most demanding physical challenges of her life.

But ultimately, it was that simple moment with her son that meant the most.

Her husband Dan, Fletcher and other family members were there to support her, making the marathon a family experience as much as a personal challenge.

The finish line represented not just the end of a race, but everything the family had carried with them to New York.

“Maybe the biggest achievement wasn’t my finishing time”

Reflecting on everything that had happened over the previous two years, Dani began to look at her result from a different perspective.

She acknowledged that her time was not what she had hoped for, but questioned whether the finishing time was ever the most important part of the journey.

“When I think about everything my body, heart and mind have been through, maybe the biggest achievement wasn’t my finishing time. Maybe it was simply getting to that start line.”

It was a particularly powerful reflection given the challenges she had faced.

Two caesarean births within 16 months. More than six months since giving birth to Fletcher. Almost two years of grief. More than two years without running. And only three months of preparation.

Dani had every reason to question whether she could complete the challenge.

Yet she had made it to New York, stood at the starting line and continued despite the disappointment of her injury.

She finished with a simple declaration:

“It wasn’t the race I’d planned, but I’m so bloody glad I did it. I’ll be back!”

A promise to keep Billie’s name alive

Dani also expressed her gratitude to the friends, family members and supporters who had helped her along the way, as well as everyone who donated to Billie’s Besties.

The charity’s work continues to focus on supporting families facing difficult beginnings and improving care for vulnerable newborns.

Its current fundraising ambitions include helping provide advanced brain monitoring equipment for neonatal patients, building on previous fundraising achievements that have supported important NICU equipment.

For Dani, the marathon was always about much more than personal achievement.

“This marathon was always about so much more than a finish time. It was about Billie, about making a difference, and about doing something I once couldn’t have imagined,” she explained.

Her words reflect a perspective she has shared repeatedly since losing her daughter: happiness and grief do not have to exist separately.

She can celebrate Fletcher while still missing Billie. She can feel proud of her achievement while acknowledging the disappointment of the race. And she can continue building a future while carrying the memory of the little girl who changed her life.

A mother, two children and a finish line that meant so much more

Since welcoming Fletcher, Dan and Dani have been intentional about keeping Billie’s memory present in their family life.

Dani previously wrote that Billie would have been the best big sister, expressing the complicated emotions of loving the child in her arms while longing for the daughter she could no longer hold.

Now, after completing the New York Marathon, she has added another extraordinary chapter to the way she honours Billie.

It was not a perfect race. It was not the time she had trained for. And there were moments when the physical pain made the finish line seem impossibly far away.

But she made it.

For Dani, the greatest achievement may never be measured by the clock or the number of kilometres covered.

It is the fact that she found the strength to stand at that starting line after everything she and her family had endured — and that she finished with Billie’s memory at the heart of it all.

And perhaps the most meaningful part of her journey is that, even as she celebrated one beautiful chapter of motherhood, she never stopped making space for the little girl who made her a mother in the first place. 💔