Hello from Mark & Lynn!

Firstly...Please, Please, Please, read the text below before donating.
This will only take a few moments of your precious time and it would mean a lot to us knowing you have read it first...!

...and thanks for visiting our fundraising page and for choosing to support us on our New York Marathon 2008 quest and for donating to such a worthy cause.

The Story...
Mark has recently been personal training Dave & Michelle Gilley. Here is their story and it is our reason for getting involved with them on this epic adventure. Read on...

'David'

David was born with (Cerebral Palsy) 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy

Due to his disability, 'David' required constant care and attention. His parents had both accepted the challenge and were caring for him 24/7.  ‘David’ communicated with his parents and just as a mum knows her baby’s cry, Dave & Michele knew their son and loved him deeply.

There were times when ‘David’ as well as ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ needed a little bit of help too. This is where Bluebell Wood Hospice at North Anston came into their own. http://www.bluebellwood.org/

Bluebell Wood offered respite to families in circumstances where professional help is welcomed/needed. 'David’s' family had qualified for this opportunity and mum and dad found the support they needed to help them.  Sometimes just the ability to recharge their batteries enabled them to get through the difficult times.Sometimes just the knowledge that someone was there to talk to and offer professional guidance was worth its weight in gold.

We as human beings can only imagine what parents with disabled children sometimes have to endure.  Especially when at times having to watch their child suffer & the feelings of helplessness, despair, anger etc that can most likely follow.  Again we can only hallucinate how it must feel, we can never truly know, we just try and make ‘at best’ some kind of sense of what it must be like…

'David’s' family had started to benefit from the privilege that Bluebell Wood offered them.  Again, how grateful they were of the opportunities for both them and their son, in their own words is ‘beyond comprehension’.  The respite that they were now utilising was liberating them as a family and the future was looking bright.

However, on the 19th of January 2006 David and Michelle took their seven-year-old son ‘David’ to hospital for what appeared to be routine procedure. ‘David’ throughout his childhood had visited the hospital under similar circumstances on a number of occasions.  His mum and dad were familiar to the procedures and followed them accordingly. However, nothing could have prepared them for the devastation that was to follow…

Every parent’s worst nightmare happened when just after midnight on the 20th January 2006 ‘David’ passed away due to complications.

Dave & Michelle’s journey of pain & loss had just begun…

Today Bluebell Wood still play a role in David & Michele’s life. You see, after young 'David’s' death they didn’t just leave the parents to grieve and suffer. They became involved in the support of Dave and Michele by recognising that the devastation doesn’t just go away. Assistance with funeral arrangements, support, basically anything they could to alleviate any of the pain that this family were having to endure. Dave mentioned in casual conversation one day one of his life’s aspirations. He also mentioned the hurdles in front of him. Work commitments, family commitments,  injury problems, and also the fact that at the time he was embracing  the dream he could only run for 30 seconds without having to stop and rest.

The only way he could run a marathon in his mind was if he approached the situation with a sense of purpose…

Dave & Michele can’t give words or value to the help that they received from Bluebell Wood and continue to receive right up until this very day. Sometimes words are not enough and the rest is priceless… Sometimes a Marathon doesn’t seem such a task because when you find purpose you find other things tucked away you never knew you had… So after browsing the Internet, The ING New York Marathon became a seed that was to be firmly planted.

A text message followed to me one evening that simply read ( New York Marathon on November 2, do-able?)

You all know the answer to the above question…

So there’s the frame, here is where it all began… And… On November 2, 2008 after 26 miles 385 yards is where it will all be just beginning.   I am  grateful for the opportunity to be able to join Dave on this journey,  to be part of something so special. I think there’ll be plenty of people cheering and willing us on to success that day and i’m certain we’ll be encouraged by the people we love when we need it the most wherever they may be…

I hope you can all understand and appreciate the difficulty in expressing something of such significance into just a few words… But that’s our story, and they are our reasons, and this is what it was all about…

Finally…..

No-one more than Dave & Michelle understands how we actually managed to get the opportunity to actually take part in the ING NY Marathon. Bluebell Wood is a worthy cause and embrace the 26.2mile challenge ahead in aid of an exceptionally worthy cause.