When my daughter first started school, she would always come home talking about this boy Aiden who she loved playing with.  Turns out he had an appeal on the go to raise money for rehabilitation, so one evening I read his story. Within 30 minutes, I was holding back the tears.

Here's some his story below, but check out his appeal website for the full story.

http://www.aidens-walking-appeal.org.uk/index.html

Aiden was  born 11 weeks premature and weighing so little he was rushed off immediately to the neonatal intensive care unit where he was put on a ventilator and wired up to many machines. Aiden's Mum and Dad were very excited but extremely terrified because Aiden was so premature.

Aiden was put on the Neonatal Unit for 10 weeks and was very poorly at times. He had to be re-ventilated 3 times, and caught a lot of infections while being on the unit.

He was discharged on New Year’s Eve 2010 at 11 weeks old but had to remain oxygen dependant at all times which meant having to have oxygen installed into the house. Aiden was only home a week when one night he stopped breathing and his Dad had to performed CPR on him while the family waited for an ambulance to arrive. Aiden was ventilated again once when he arrived at the hospital where he stayed for 2 weeks. Aiden remained oxygen dependant until April.

Subsequently at 14 months old Aiden was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and has recently undergone SDR surgery at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital.  Unfortunately, his post surgery recovery is not support by the NHS and vital funds are required to cover his personal therapy and physiotherapy to fully exploit the benefits of the operation.

Please donate as you feel appropriate and assist me in this challenge for a young boy who needs our help!

Why the Solent? Its been on the to-do-list for some time now and this year and Aiden's appeal presents no better year to complete this challenge.

As with all waterborne activities, weather and conditions are crucial, so as yet I have no definitive date for the swim.  Fingers crossed August September 2015.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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