Training is going well. Been a struggle sometimes to fit in my runs around the kids but im managing to get at at least once a week. I really enjoyed my last run and think I would like to keep running in my beyond gnr. im looking forward to the lighter nights so that I can squeeze more runs in! feel free to donate!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In 2007 I went into labour with my first child...Eloise. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

After holding Eloise for mere seconds she was whisked away to try to remove the Mecconium she had swollowed and inhaled. Nothing they tried worked.

One of the many doctors trying to help Eloise eventually came to us and told us she needed ECMO. This is essentially a heart and lung bypass to allow Eloise to recover and to remove the Mecconium that was stuck deep in her lungs.

Unfortunately all the beds at the Freeman Hospital in our home town of Newcastle were taken so our choices were:

Glenfield Hospital in leicester

a hospital in edinbrough 

and london!!

We chose Glenfield knowing that Eloises Aunty Sally could be there waiting for her when she arrived. So wouldn't be on her own. It was the only way we could bare to let our tiny baby leave us behind in Newcastle. A helicoptor pilot and a lovely lady called Jenny came to pick Eloise up and reassured us that she would be looked after. Jenny became our Angel (and Eloise's personal fashion stylist)

What happens next could possibly make us the luckiest parents ever! 

When we got to Glenfield at midnight the next day, after a very long drive, we had already been told that Eloise was not on the ECMO Machine. We were given a bedroom to stay in for the duration of Eloises stay and a midwife was arranged to vist me as I had discharged myself from hospital and needed aftercare. (There is not maternity ward there so she came from another area!)

The doctor we spoke to believed that the altitude and the pressure of the helicoptor ride had loosened the Mecconium and she was doing the rest on her own. I wonder if this would have happened if she had been taken to the Freeman? 

The next day they started to reduce the oxygen on the breathing apperatus she was on until she was driven back to the RVI in newcastle Via ambulance just 4 days after she arrived.

Eloise was meant to stay a few weeks and several months more at the RVI. She stayed 10 days. we were told she would have Cerabal palsy...at age 18months she was given the all clear.

While we were at Glenfield Hospital, another tiny newborn baby was put on the ECMO Machine. It broke my heart that tiny baby with all those wires beeps and tubes in and out of its tiny body. 

I have never forgotton that baby or how lucky we were. So I want to help.

I always said I would do and now its time. I am loosing weight and getting fit and this is my ultimate goal to run at events like the color run on 20th July and also to run the Great North Run on September 7th. 

If you have met or heard me talk about my children then you know how much they mean to me. This is why...life could have been so different. 

Find out more about how amazing they are here: http://www.heartlink-glenfield.org.uk/

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.