Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My wife gave birth to our son Luke on November 17th 2012 in Bristol. Luke was born with a congential heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries, meaning his pulmonary artery and his aorta were connected the wrong way. To fix this, he underwent open heart surgery at 8 days old at the Bristol Children's hospital. This was, as you can imagine, a very stressful time for my wife and I and our families but due to the exceptional surgeons, doctors and nurses that looked after him, Luke is now 7 months old and has made a full recovery. The staff at the Children's hospital were truly incredible throughout the 3 weeks Luke was there and we cannot thank them enough for the amazing care, attention and emotional support they gave us and Luke during his stay. Without them, it is no exaggeration to say that Luke would not be alive today.

In order to say thank you to the staff at the Bristol Children's hospital, I am raising money for The Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal. The Appeal is aiming to raise £1million so the hospital can build a new cardiac theatre, helping to save more young children like Luke. The challenge I have set myself will take place on Saturday, 13th July and will involve me cycling and running to all of the 80 sculptures of Gromit (as part of the 'Gromit Unleashed' art exhibition - www.gromitunleashed.org.uk) which will be stationed in and around Bristol and also further a field. This challenge will first involve a 200 mile bike ride as one of the sculptures is rather far away from Bristol (sorry, all locations are strictly confidential at this stage but all will be revealed!!!), followed immediately by a 20 mile run around the sculptures in Bristol. The bike and run will be done on the same day, one after the other. This will be a very tough and emotional challenge but knowing that I am contributing in a small way to the Grand Appeal and a new cardiac theatre will ensure that I make it to all 80 Gromits! This is such a worthy cause so anything you can give will be greatly appreciated by me, Ruth and Luke and of course, the hospital. 

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So please dig deep and donate now. Thank you!!!!