Good evening everybody.

On Sunday the 25th of April i will be doing a sponsored zip slide at Hillsborough, Home of Sheffield Wednesday as part of 'Team Carter' in aid of Sheffield Children's Hospital to raise funds for a fantastic set of people who have performed a miracle on a very, very lucky little boy.

As you will all know i became a father on the 9th of June last year to a beautiful baby boy called Harrison and thankfully we have had a pretty good run with him as he was born healthy and has been fortunate to enjoy good health so far throughout his short life. At the roughly the same time two good friends of mine Barry Whitlam and Laura Cartwright we're also expecting a baby born who was born on the 16th of July, and named Carter, but sadly Carter has endured a very tough start to life.

He was born suffering a diaphragmatic hernia. That meant his stomach and bowel were up by his shoulder and chest, where his left lung should be, pushing his heart to the right hand side of his chest. When he was born he was immediately sedated to stop him from breathing as his first breath could have been the breath that killed him, and at 4 days old he underwent his first operation to pull his stomach and bowels down from his chest in to his stomach where they should have been. Following the procedure he grew stronger and was allowed home after 8 weeks.

During the time after Carter grew stronger and developed in to a happy baby who had appeared to put aside his tough start to life and the illness he had suffered. However on the morning of December the 10th 2009, Barry gave his son Carter, who was 5 month old at the time, a kiss and left for work, leaving him at home with his partner Laura. During the day he got a call from Laura to say he was in an ambulance on the way to Sheffield Children's Hospital.

Carter had started vomiting and it was whilst Laura was on the telephone to NHS direct, that Carter vomited again and fell in to unconsciousness. The operator sent an emergency ambulance out to Carter and he was rushed to the Accident and Emergency department at Sheffield Children's Hospital where the Doctor's diagnosed a perforated bowel and an emergency operation took place. The operation lasted almost six hours and the surgeon told Barry and Laura it was the most serious case he had ever seen. 

The next 24 hours were critical as doctors struggled to keep Carter alive by controlling the pressure that was building up on his organs as a result of leaking fluids. The situation was so serious he could not make it to theatre, and the surgical team and their equipment had to be brought to him. His heart stopped twice while doctors worked to relieve the pressure and fluids, which were still too high for the ventilator to be effective. 

This situation had become that bad, that Barry and Laura got told to get their families together at the Children's Hospital to say their final goodbyes to Carter. I can't even to imagine how Barry and Laura felt that day, and when a friend called me to tell me what had happened i was at work, and I'm brave enough to admit that broke down sobbing heartbroken when i found out what had happened to Carter.

All this happened around Christmas time and the immense unbreakable strength, and fighting spirit of Carter lead him to become well known amongst the staff as 'Carter the Christmas Miracle, and Barry and Laura was also told that he was 'the sickest patient in the hospital by some margin'

Thanks to the incredible work of the hospital staff and the state of the art equipment the doctors really did save his life. He had several operations and a few complications and is now on a very long road to recovery. He still has a few more operations ahead of him and there is no definite date that he will be able to go home with his family. Words can't describe how much the Sheffield Children's Hospital have done for this amazing little boy, and this amazing little family, and in Barry's own words he 'cant describe how grateful I am to this hospital for giving me a second chance to spend time with my son. He would not be here today without it'.

There are a dozen of us all doing this zip slide to raise money for the Sheffield Children's Hospital so i would be very grateful if you could please help us all raise some money to give something back and say thank you for the miracle's they performed. We all will be doing the Zip slide from the top of the Kop at the Sheffield Wednesday ground to the other side of the stadium on the 25th April (which is also Barry's 31st Birthday) to help pay for a new £500,000 scanner. 

I would greatfully appreciate any support that you can offer me in the form of sponsorship. I have already taken £70 through my just giving website and approximately another £50 or so in cash sponsorship but i want to raise at least £500 in appreciation of what the Sheffield Children's hospital have done for this fantastic family and this amazing little boy.

Thanks very much for your support 

Nick