Baby Elias was born prematurely at 28 weeks to one of my dearest friends, Collette. Elias spent two and a half long, hard months in hospital fighting for his life, fighting infection after infection which plagued his underdeveloped lungs, before finally being allowed home with mum and dad to start ‘normal life’. I felt like he was a tiny little superhero-truly earning the gift of life after fighting so hard for it.

If this wasn‘t a difficult enough start to Elias’ life, he was at just three months old diagnosed with a large inguinal hernia and unfortunately had to spend his first Christmas back in hospital. As well as being uncomfortable for baby Elias there are some potentially life changing implications to this diagnosis; he could lose part of his bowel which would lead to having a stoma and in the worst case, Elias could die without this operation if there are further complications. All money raised will go towards the cost of the operation and give this beautiful baby boy the best chance in life going forward.

To raise money for this important cause, I have already committed to and completed a swimming challenge to swim the equivalent distance of the English Channel over two months starting on 1st January 2018 and completed it on 28th February 2018. So many people kindly donated and together we raised just over £2000.

My most recent committment is to complete a sprint triathlon at Ludlow on 30th September 2018. That’s 400m swim, 17 mile cycle and finally a 4 mile run. Pretty scary for me!

For those of you who know me well, you will know this won’t be an easy task for me but for those of you who don‘t know me, my determination and my love for this baby boy and his wonderful family will get me through it. If you can make a donation, no matter how great or how small, it would make the world of difference.