As most of you know my daughter Hadhiya Afzal (meaning gift) was born on 12th May 2007 with a terminal condition called Trisomy 18 (also known as Edward's Syndrome). Against all odds she lived for an amazing 4 months and sadly passed away on 8th September 2007.

Having and caring for Hadhiya was the greatest blessing and a priceless gift yet at the same time it put a huge strain on many things. Those of you that know me have always used the words 'strong', 'caring', 'determined' and more than anything 'diginified' around the time we found out that our unborn child wasn't the 'normal' pregnancy we had expected. Nevertheless I continued with my head held high and tried to make the most of what unpredicted time we had with our unborn child. 

As you would expect with a newborn come sleepless nights. However, due to Hadhiya's condition this meant that she had to be fed every 2 hours and every feed lasted up to an hour because she was manually fed through an NG tube. For 3 months I survived on a couple of hours of sleep each night due to Hadhiya's feeds. It was after 3 months that the palliative care nurses saw that I was at breaking point and suggested that we go and stay at Martin House so that I could get a couple of nights rest. Being the kind of person that I am I felt that I was letting my daughter down by accepting charity but as the days and nights went on and realised that I was no good as a zombie carer I accepted the offer.

Entering Martin House for the first time ever I was overwhelmed with the care and support that hits you. That was the first time that I cried and in a way accepted that my daughter was going to die. There are no words that can describe what Martin House does for families and individuals and if there were any words then they just wouldn't be enough. Which is why after just a an hour of being at Martin House I decided that I was going to help Hadhiya's memory live on through fundraising and supporting Martin House. My only regret is that it has taken me 3 years to publicly support Martin House.

Even after Hadhiya passed away Martin House continued to support us through the parental bereavement group as well as a sibling group for Faheem. Martin House is an organisation that doesn't stop until you say stop and that in itself shows the patience and immense support they give families.

They rely heavily on donations from the public and therefore I have set a high target which, if it isn't met then I will make up the difference.

Finally and by no means whatsoever last I want to say a massive thank you to Steph, Cath, Sheraz & Surraya who have only known me for a few months and took no persuasion whatsoever to run with me. Steph, Cath, Sheraz & Surraya were not around when I had Hadhiya and I cannot imagine what they would have done if they had met her.  But this just goes to show what truly amazing people they are and I just hope 3 weeks of training is enough for us :-)

Thank you girls and boy!!!

Thank you to everyone who donates!

Shakila x