June 2023 - Owen and Toby Run the Lakes

Well, a couple of years on and the totaliser is hovering around that £17226 mark, unmoved for a good while, mainly because I haven’t been moving enough. The good news is that Tilda is doing really well and due to come off her injections and is starting to wean off her medication too.This is a long process and definitely not over, we’re still in and out of GOSH, and we continue to be incredibly grateful for the wonderful staff there and all of the amazing things they do every day to help. 

So to kickstart the fund raising again, I’ve not only come up with something suitably stupid, but also managed to recruit an additional helper, who just happens to read maps quite well and has some experience of trekking through remote wildernesses. 

No not Bear Ghryls, but the rather more sedate sounding Owen James.

The Lakes Helter Skelter

We’re running from the top of the Lakes, to the bottom. Yes it’s been done before, but probably not by people who’re quite so ill-equipped and unprepared. We think it’s about 50 miles, but of course that depends on Owen’s map reading and compass-using skills, that he picked up as an enthusiastic orienteerer and that were last practiced in a minor stint in the Welsh Guards (if you meet him he will almost certainly tell you about that…)

We’re starting at Caldbeck sometime around 730 tomorrow morning and hope to finish on Sunday in time for a good Sunday roast which i think we’ll need.

At best, we need your support, at worst your sympathy. But importantly we’d appreciate your money! SO PLEASE SPONSOR!

September 2021 (quick update)

When we created the page a couple of years ago we never thought we’d get so much support which has been awesome. We presented a cheque for £20,428 (thank you also giftaid) to GOSH in December of that year and that went into JDM research funding for 2020.

So… finally after a fallow year of running events, I’m back on it and due to run the Windsor 1/2 Marathon this Sunday. I will run for GOSH again so appreciate any support!

Toby x

February 2019

As most of you know, Tilda has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM for short)

We always thought she was a one in a million and turns out she is! (those are the odds of “having” it.) As it’s so rare (there are approximately 600 people on the register for JDM in the UK) there are very few cases similar to Tilda to learn from.

Right now, there is no cure for JDM so we’re not exactly sure what the next few years holds. We’re really keen to try and support GOSH in their research into the disease.

The NHS have been incredible in helping her through diagnosis and subsequent treatment. There have been quite a few hospitals and doctors involved but Tilda has spent most of her time in Great Ormond Street over the past 6 months. 

Yesterday, we finally got to “ring the bell” on the ward, signalling the end to her current chemotherapy treatment at GOSH and far less frequent visits.  And today is her third birthday, so we thought we’d start the year afresh and try to say a huge thank you to all the nurses, doctors, physios, play carers and all of the other teams of people who have made us feel so at home so far.

£10k will go a long way to supporting another research project so that's what we're going for.

We’ve committed to a few challenges over 2019 starting with 10ks and ending in a heap at the end of the Windsor Half Marathon. Perhaps a bit of head shaving in between, who knows?

Thank you for supporting us! Love Toby, Al, Fred and Tilda x