A mixture of COVID cancellations and other injuries means this is my fourth attempt at making it to the start line of the London Marathon. Fingers crossed that 2024 is the year but so far, so good! 

I'm incredibly scared(!), nervous, and proud to be doing this for such an amazing cause. Although this time I'm flying solo, as part of Team SkateHut we have raised funds over the past few years for Birmingham Children's Hospital. The Birmingham Women's Hospital is part of the same NHS Trust and incredible fundraising team. 

When I saw that they were raising funds for a new purpose-built building I was drawn to supporting them. Woodland House will be a haven away from the hustle and bustle of the main busy hospital and will give grieving mums and dads who have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death somewhere they can spend time together as a family before they are ready to face the outside world again. 

My wife, Serena, and I sadly know from experience the devastation of this kind of loss. Although very little can take away the pain, somewhere like Woodland House will be an incredibly supportive place when families need it the most. I know it would have helped us immeasurably to have a calm, quiet space with support available away from the normal busy hospital environment and others who are gratefully enjoying their pregnancies and babies. 

As amazing as the NHS is, it just cannot fund projects like this without the support of charity and the general public.

Woodland House will help the 2000 grieving moms and dads that The Birmingham Women's Hospital currently cares for each year.

Thanks for reading and whatever you can donate to help would be really appreciated.