On Thursday 1 November 2018 a colleague of mine, Lucy, gave birth to Haliday Lilly Priest. She was born with a rare genetic skin condition confirmed as a type of ichthyosis. As a result of the condition, Haliday required neonatal care which was expected to last up to about three weeks. Hali made excellent progress, but despite this, she contracted sepsis and passed away on Friday 9 November 2018. Treatment for Hali was made all the harder because of her skin condition which meant that despite staff working with her solidly for over 10 hours, the infection took over and she couldn't fight it.

I attended her funeral and was awestruck by the strength of Lucy and her husband Ryan. I felt utterly helpless so decided to do the RideLondon 100 mile cycle event in memory of Hali and in support of Lucy and Ryan. 

I’m raising money for The Ichthyosis Support Group, which researches Ichthyosis and helps the families of other babies with the condition.