When Ned was born (Ben's son, Emily & Alex's nephew) he had a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallots. He was referred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and in September 2009, he underwent 7 hours of major heart surgery to correct the congenital defect.

Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF) support families whose children are in the hospital for life-saving and changing surgery of this type. They pay the salary of liaison nurses, buy equipment for the ward, as well as providing towards the costs of accommodation for parents staying at the hospital - in many cases for weeks or months at a time.

Ward 23 (Children's Cardiac Ward) and PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) could not function so well without them and Ned certainly wouldn't be the amazing young boy he is if it wasn't for them.

Ben, Alex and Emily decided to do the Great North Run to say thank you to everyone at the Freeman Hospital and CHUF, and hope you can find a little to donate to help the cause.

From the bottom of our hearts (excuse the pun) thank you for helping.