Hi,

 

You may or may not be aware that on the 26^th June my 2 year old twin son Thomas had a stroke; although rare in children it can happen. Thankfully after spending a week in hospital both at Watford General and where he underwent different scans and tests Thomas is back to normal with no visible lasting effects of the stroke. He is on aspirin to thin the blood, although he is fit and well, there is still a chance that it could happen again.

The whole experience has had an enormous effect on me, it has put a lot of things into perspective and my time spent in the children’s wards and especially the neurology ward at has made me realise just how lucky I and most of us are in life. While I would never judge a persons problems, the past week has made me realise that they are nothing compared to what the children and the parents have to go through everyday. It was not just on the ward, it was walking around and seeing these brave children who have had heart operations and brain surgery just carrying on as normal, playing and being kids, but it is not always like this. Sometimes the families are forgotten and you could see the pain and worry etched on the parents faces as they lived every moment, but they too put on a brave face for their children, in fact it is the kids that help the parents get through times like this and I know this from my own experience.

After coming away I wanted to do something, I wanted to give something back to them, I am no doctor so I cannot help them in that way but I can raise money for the Great Ormond Street Charity. Money raised goes to a number of uses, some being: contributing towards the cost of enabling parents to stay close to their child while in hospital, towards research into finding a cure or a drug to make there stay in hospital more comfortable, the redevelopment of the building, help to install a new entertainment console on every bed, new equipment, the list is endless, but every single one will help a child and their family in some way.

 

 

So, what am I going to do… I have decided to run the half marathon on the 17^th October to raise money – 13 miles. It will be tough as the most running I have done in the past 4 years is to the end of the garden and back with the kids, I am sure I will be hurting during training and most definitely after the marathon, but it is nothing to what the kids and parents in hospital go through.

 

I really hope that you can donate as little or as much as you can to this fantastic cause so we can make a difference, even if the money raised affects one family it will be worth it.

 

Thank you for reading and I really hope that you can donate.

Richard

 

P.S. I have no idea why this has spaced out all weirdly.

 

Now the boring bit...