On the 20th November 2013, my son, Harry Joseph Austin was born at Leicester Hospital. It had been a challenging pregnancy, with issues identified early on in Lincoln, and being sent to Nottingham for further tests under the guidance of the consultant there, Dr Lucy Kean. She was so unbelievably supportive during the time there. She identified an issue with Harry’s heart and so Leicester Hospital was the next stop in the August for additonal care during the pregnancy. It was clear that, at some point in his early life, Harry would need an operation to fix his heart and being closer to Glenfield Hospital, specialising in heart care in Leicester, would be the best option.

After many more scans and considerations, Harry arrived 6 weeks prematurely in the November.

He battled away for 4 days but was always a huge risk due to his heart. Unfortunately, on day 4, Harry contracted necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), common in premature babies, where the kidney tissue becomes inflamed. This proved problematic for Harry as he struggled to fight the infection due to poor blood pressure from his heart, something you need to fight infection.

His condition deteriorated over the next day and night. Despite the valiant efforts of the Leicester Neonatal Ward staff and consultants, and Lucy Kean throughout the pregnancy, Harry fell asleep for the final time on the morning of November 25th 2013.

As it arrives on his 10th birthday, this is the first time I have publicly addressed it. Something I have wanted to do, and probably should have done, a long time ago.

I would like to mark this milestone by giving back to the two places that supported Harry, and so I am running the London Marathon in April 2024, my very first marathon 😬, and hope to raise funds for both Nottingham Hospital Charities and Leicester Hospital’s Neonatal Unit.

Their care and dedication shown will never be forgotten, and any funds that can be raised will be a small way to thank them for their support when it was needed.

My running journey began in August 2020, with zero experience of running. I began running the Couch 2 5k programme to try and make some healthier choices in life, and subsequently got the running bug. I have since run several 10km events, 2 Great North Run’s and now I feel privileged, but a bit scared 🤣, to have secured a ballot place for next years marathon. I never thought it would get to this point, but equally running has become a big part of my life now and I am thrilled to be in a position to give back to such a personal and important cause.

Any donations, sharing of the page, or even well wishes along the way would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you for reading. X