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The Potters Arf Marathon takes place on Sunday 13th June 2010 in Stoke on Trent over a course of 13 Miles! (Same as The Great North Run)

 

I am running to raise money for The Bubble Foundation. This is a charity that belongs to Ward 46 at Newcastle General Hospital.

This charity is very close to me personally, as my nephew Connor has been a patient of Ward 46 throughout his whole life.

 

Please read below for more information on The Bubble Foundation:

 

Imagine not being able to kiss your own baby

Imagine not being able to pick up your crying baby until you have scrubbed your hands clean for three minutes and put on a special gown.

Imagine not being able to take your baby for a walk because he needs to stay in a sterile BUBBLE of clean air.

Some parents don’t have to imagine, for them it is real.  Their children suffer from a rare, inherited condition called Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or SCID.  They are born without an immune system and cannot fight the simplest of infection.  Even the ‘common cold ‘ passed on a by a mother’s kiss can be fatal. 

Imagine having to live in a literal bubble

Imagine not being able to touch anything outside the bubble, having limited breathing capacity, not being able to touch or be touched by anything from outside the bubble, for fear of infection. Being barely able to move, looking out, seeing people walking past.

Fortunately, an alternative is available.

A BUBBLE, a high-tech sterile space, measuring 8 feet square, becomes the childrens ‘home’ for the duration of their treatment.

The only chance of survival for these ‘BUBBLE’ babies is to give them a new immune system. Giving them a Bone Marrow Transplant, a difficult and painful treatment, is the only way.  And the process typically takes 6 months, but can be longer, up to 2 years.

The good news is that if successful, the babies grow new immune cells and can leave their BUBBLE and go home to live normal lives.

The Children’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Newcastle-upon-Tyne is one of only two units in the UK and Ireland that can give these precious babies the meticulous medical and nursing care needed.  We also provide a follow up service for these children and their families once they go home.

Children are referred to us from Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland, and from Northern England down to Birmingham and the Midlands.  There are BUBBLE babies where you live too.

The Unit has also begun to treat children suffering from leukaemia and severe forms of arthritis.

And we are proud that the survival success rate of the Unit has increased from 50% to 80% in the last 5 years. 

The BUBBLE FOUNDATION UK raises funds for medical equipment, toys and educational aids, welfare of the babies, children and their families, and importantly to fund research required at this cutting edge of paediatric practice. 

We need support so that more babies and children can recover and go home to live normal lives.