Story
<p>Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</p>
<p>My friend, Rob Bird, and I are running the Southend Half Marathon on 12th June 2011 (<a href="http://www.southendraces.co.uk/tmkhalf.html">http://www.southendraces.co.uk/tmkhalf.html</a>). We are raising money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital Children's Heart Appeal. </p>
<p>I have chosen this charity because my nephew, Joseph Scott, was born in May 2010 with a major heart condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (<a href="http://www.lhm.org.uk/info/hypoplastic-left-heart-syndrome-44.aspx">http://www.lhm.org.uk/info/hypoplastic-left-heart-syndrome-44.aspx</a>).</p>
<p>At just 4 days old he underwent open heart surgery and has recently had a second open heart operation. Further, during this period he has spent much time in and out of hospital with other illnesses and complications caused by the condition. </p>
<p>Unbelievably, Joseph still greets his mum and dad every day with the best, biggest and brightest of smiles (just see the second photo as evidence)!</p>
<p>Birmingham Childen's Hospitals Cardiac Unit care for Joseph, and are the world renowned centre of excellence for his type of surgery. They have been absolutely fantastic from the outset, and all our family are very thankful to the surgeons and staff without whom we cannot be sure we would still have our beautiful nephew with us.</p>
<p>Birmingham are, and hopefully will continue to be, Joseph's life line, and for that we will be eternally grateful and forever indebted!</p>
<p>Over the last five years, the demand for Birmingham's cardiac services has increased dramatically. This is due to the fact that they can now treat more conditions than ever and because their excellent reputation is becoming more widely known around the UK.</p>
<p><strong>Keeping up with the growing demand though is proving very difficult. This is why we need to replace the ageing facility with a new state-of-the-art one – and add a second cardiac theatre. This will be a new ‘hybrid’ cardiac theatre, the first of its kind at a UK children’s hospital. Here they’ll be able to perform surgical procedures and keyhole techniques simultaneously, offering exciting new horizons for the conditions we treat. It will also reduce the number of operations that children may need – and their lengths of stay in hospital.</strong></p>
<p>As you will appreciate I hold this cause very close to my heart. This is why I am running the Southend Half Marathon on Sunday 12th June to raise money for the Children's Heart Appeal, and will be extremely grateful for any donations/sponsorship.</p>
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