CHALLENGE COMPLETED !!!

At 2pm on Saturday the 30th of October I completed the South Downs Way non stop on foot. It took 48 hours and was more challenging than I expected. I had excellent support from family and friends without which I would not have been able to achieve this. 

The party and charity auction was a great success and I owe everyone who helped and participated huge thanks. We raised £2400 with auction bids and raffle ticket sales alone.

The amount raised has exceeded all my expectations and I continue to receive donations which is wonderful.

SOUTH DOWNS WAY CHALLENGE 103 MILES NON STOP ON FOOT

28^TH – 30^TH OCTOBER 2010 FOR THE TREVOR MANN BABY UNIT

Starting in Winchester and finishing in Eastbourne I am attempting to complete the South Downs Way on foot non stop in order to raise money for the Trevor Mann Baby Unit at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton. The unit was brought to my attention when my Son was born on the 22^nd July 2010. He was born at the District General Hospital in Eastbourne and transferred to the TMBU the following day as they provide specialist care for premature and term babies who require it. My Son suffered birth asphyxia and a right middle cerebral artery infarction (stroke). He received intensive care at the TMBU and was fortunate enough to be helped not only by the team of consultants, registrars, doctors and nurses that work permanently at TMBU but also by expert neurologists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists plus he had to have an MRI scan. The results were sent to a world authority on baby MRI scans in London.

The care my Son received was not special or unusual to this team but to us was the most important thing ever to have happened in our lives. I was humbled by the expertise, care and empathy shown by everyone we met and was also humbled by the stories of other babies who were admitted to the TMBU while we were there and the stories of past patients. Many babies spend months in intensive care being constantly monitored and encouraged by these inspirational people and some parents are allowed to stay on site to be close to their children.

The TMBU is funded in part by charitable donation. Seeing first hand the great work the team do, knowing the emotion that effects parents who have children there and seeing all of this unfold before me has inspired me to raise money to help the unit to continue their important work.

I am looking for sponsorship in order to raise as much money as possible for the unit as they need to constantly update and improve their facilities in order to continue to provide the best care possible for all of the babies and families who have to spend time there.

Finally the challenge. I wanted to attempt something that has some significance to the area and that requires a level of physicality that is challenging to a level that will encourage people to sponsor me. I also wanted to make that physical challenge worthy of representing the Trevor Mann Baby Unit and although covering the 103 miles of South Downs Way non stop on foot does not offer anywhere near the same challenge that faces the hundreds of babies and parents that are looked after by the team I hope it will be of some inspiration.

So please donate as much as you can to help make a real difference. Thank you.