The Water Babies Scotland Team (Hugh, Charis, Alison, Sarah H and Sarah G) are collectively running not ONE, but TWO marathons for a gorgeous little girl called Emma Garioch. That’s 52.6miles/ 85 kilometers and a whole host of blisters, ice baths and pounding feet on pavements!

Emma is 3 years old and has been diagnosed with a rare condition called Rett’s syndrome, this means she is unable to walk, speak or communicate. The Water babies team are training hard and running their hearts out to fundraise for an amazing piece of kit called an Eye Gaze which will be life changing, not only for her but her wonderful parents as well!

Communicating with the ones you love can become really frustrating when you cannot express yourself in words; gesture to something you want or physically walk and explore as you wish. The eye-gaze is a really wonderful piece of kit that allows children with Rett’s and many other disabilities to be able to communicate through eye gaze movements (usually the most ‘intact’ sense) to be able to:
- talk freely – we know we all love a good natter!
- express their wishes/ and have a choice – ‘actually I really want a chocolate biscuit, not this boring orange!’ ‘ I hate this jumper, it's really itchy!’
- to voice their emotions – ‘Mum I love you!’
- to help with building relationships and making friends.
- to be able to join in with games, and family activities

The Eyegaze Edge is an eye-operated communication and control system that will help Emma communicate and interact with the world. By looking at control keys or cells displayed on a screen, Emma will be able to generate speech by selecting pre-programmed phrases.

We are hoping to raise £5000 to be able to buy an Eye gaze for Emma – that will allow Emma to have a voice, express emotions and give her a new outlook on life. Please support us in our mission to help her say ‘I love you mum!’