Story
<p>The world record for running the marathon dressed as a baby is 3hrs 13 minutes set by Tony Audenshaw (Bob Hope from Emmerdale).</p>
<p><strong>I am running the London Marathon (dressed as a baby!) to raise money for Bliss so please sponsor me. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Why? </strong>Because my daughter Annabelle was born early due to my wife having flu. Annabelle was born 2 months early weighing 1.9kg or 4.2lbs, a good weight for 7 months apparently. However, she then proceeded to lose weight until she was 1.7kg. After a few days of no food and a swollen stomach we were in real shock, not really knowing which way it might go. She really was very poorly. Born at the start of December she continued to remain in the special baby care unit until New Year’s Day, when she came home. That day was the best day of my life. She had made it home.</p>
<p>Christmas in 2009 was blurr for us spent mostly in the Neonatal Unit at Middlesex hospital. We would go home for 4 hours at a time and then head straight back, as Annabelle needed her mothers milk. Because of the swine flu outbreak, visiting was for parents only, our family could not help. However, the support of staff and the facilities helped us through, therefore, we wish to help others who find themselves in a similar situation by supporting Bliss.</p>
<p>Babies more than any other NHS patients, require special attention. They cannot communicate to tell you if there is a problem or what the problem is and they are so fragile when they are premature they need very attentive care and observation. Future problems can be greatly reduced if good care is received in the first few months of life. I would like to make everyone aware of Bliss's One to One Nursing campaign and to support Bliss in their efforts by running the London Marathon to raise a little cash to help them along. They helped us, and the Neonatal Unit in Middlesex Hospital were there for Annabelle. I want to make sure the Neonatal Units in the NHS get the funding and the resources they need to continue their improvements in care for special care babies like Annabelle.<br /><br />How the money you raise will help Bliss<br />• £1 will provide text messaging support for a distressed parent<br />• £10 will provide telephone support for a family<br />• £24 will keep our parent support helpline working for one hour<br />• £25 will buy a complete set of information booklets for a family<br />• £60 will fund a neonatal nurse on a Bliss study day<br />• £100 will provide training for a Parents 4 Parents volunteer<br />• £500 will fund a parent support group for a year<br />• £500 will train and support parent volunteers to work with the local hospitals to improve their<br />special care baby services<br />• £2,000 will provide a year’s worth of good practice updates to all UK neonatal units<br />• £2,500 will train a neonatal nurse in the developmental care approach*<br />• £5,000 will provide a study day and support package to 50 health visitors on supporting premature<br />and sick babies after discharge from hospital<br />• £5,000 will fund a new campaign to recruit more specialist nurses for our most vulnerable babies<br />• £10,000 will fund our online parent messageboard and text message support service for a year<br /><br />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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.<br />So please dig deep and donate now.</p>