Hello and thank you so much for visiting my page!  

I hope that my story can highlight to you why donating to Great Ormond Street Hospital makes such a HUGE impact for the children that are in their care.

My wife and I were blessed with a beautiful son in 2004, but after a few weeks we realised he was in a lot of discomfort.  We visited our local hospitalbut doctors were confused and were unable to diagnose the problem. As you can imagine, wewere extremely worried that nobody could concretely pinpoint the reasons behind our son’spain and suffering. We were subsequently referred to a Professor who carried out an assessment, headvised us that our son had Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).  SMA causes muscle weakness and a progressive loss of movement. Unfortunately, our son had the most severe type of SMA, Type 1. This meant that he would not live forlonger than 12-18 months and would most likely pass away with fatal respiratory failure.  There was no cure.  Imagine living your life knowing that your child will not be with you within the next 12 months; this was our reality.  

Rehaan Abbas Syed past away aged 14 months in his sleep; peacefully He spent a lot of time in the care of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

After a difficult few years we had a chance to celebrate, on the 29th March 2006 our beautiful daughter Aniqa Zahra Syed was born.  We were overcome with joy to have a beautiful baby girl in our life.  Aniqa caught high temperature and it just wouldn't go down, and we once again turned to the help of GOSH and they informed us that she had Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).  This is a rare and potentially fatal condition in which certain white blood cells build up in organs,including the skin, spleen, liver and destroy other blood cells.

There was hope, a bone marrow transplant could be performed once suitable match was found but unfortunately Aniqa never recovered and her infection spread. She passed away 1st September 2006, again in the care of GOSH.

GOSH had been amazing in trying to give my children as much comfort during their short lives.  It really opened my eyes of how many sick children are there and some of them stay there for many years of their lives. 

I promise you donating for my children and the thousands who stay and visit GOSH will improve their lives in ways you can never imagine.

My Documentary:

Watch “Breathe- One Man’s Journey - Full Documentary HD” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/133167805?ref=em-share

Please find below some of the fundraising activities that I have covered so far: 

2010 - London Marathon Ran for Muscular Dystrophy - £6,572

£3,700 on Just Giving page

2012- London Marathon http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runforlives/3  

2013 –London Marathon https://www.justgiving.com/Rehaan-Aniqa/ 

2014 - London Marathon http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runforlives/4  

2014  - Cricket Match https://www.justgiving.com/aniqa/

2016 - BT Tower Climb - www.justgiving.com/rehaanandaniqa/£250

2016 - London Marathon 2016 - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aniqandrehaan

2017 Tough Mudder 

Raised £5000 with the support of some wonderful family members and friends - TEAM ZINC

2018 - London Marathon 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/livetogiveback?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=20171017_96877

2018 - Tough Mudder (Total TBC)

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.