In August 2020, Izzy walked a marathon in her Upsee harness to raise money to adapt the Pawsitive Squad caravan to make it into an accessible space for disabled children, overall raising £6,740 - you can watch the BBC coverage of Izzy's marathon by clicking here.

After our marathon, we were planning an even bigger challenge, the sky was the limit and we were excited to see just how far we could go, but 8 weeks later, everything changed again. Izzy was admitted to hospital, had an 8 hour surgery followed by a couple more operations. Everything got more difficult since her operation. Her pain is still not well managed and, by coincidence, Izzy's seizures hugely deteriorated. It's not safe for her to use the walking harness at all anymore, she's much more tired and sensitive and her left foot & leg have got 'tight'. For a couple of months Izzy seemed pretty miserable, days would go by without her smiling at all. It was heartbreaking seeing her struggling and we knew something had to change to give Izzy her spark back....

Cue 5 challenges before her 5th birthday! We decided to do these to add moments of fun and happiness into every day, something difficult but achievable to strive towards and to ensure that, even on the hardest and most poorly of days Izzy has something positive to do and engage with. We didn't just want to do these challenges for our little family though, we know Izzy has so much to give and share and wanted as much positive to come from every day we get with Izzy. So, we decided to carry on the '5' theme and make these activities into fundraising challenges for 5 awesome non-profits:

• Disability support Nottingham (charity no: 1178924) - an amazing local Nottingham charity which has been a huge support through the pandemic for the whole community through their exceptional covid response hub in which they deliver shopping, provide food parcels, weekend pre-made meal delivery, prescription collection, listening & befriending as well as benefits advice. This amazing organisation stepped in to provide transport to and from hospital for Izzy in her wheelchair when she had admission during the 1st lockdown. Pre-pandemic, Disability Support was already doing so many amazing things to support disabled, elderly and vulnerable people in Nottinghamshire, including providing benefits advice and representation at tribunals. You can find out more about this amazing organisation at: https://www.ddnottingham.com/

• Pawsitive Squad CIC (community interest company no: 1145 1119) - OK fair disclosure, I, Izzy's mum, do run this non profit organisation. We support training assistance dogs for under 25's with any disability which results in high care & support needs as well as training therapy dogs to work within organisations such as schools and with proffessionals such as occupational therapists to enable canine assisted therapy to be accessible to as many young people as possible. You can find out more about Pawsitive Squad here: www.pawsitivesquad.co.uk

• Children's Big Appeal at Nottingham Hospitals Charity (charity no: 1165397) - Nottinghams Hospitals Charity will always be very close to our hearts as QMC & City hospital have been the primary providers of Izzy's medical care.The children's big appeal focuses on providing enhanced facilities, special medical equipment and a child-focused environment which we know first hand is so vital for families with disabled, ill or injured children. To find out more about Nottingham hospitals charity go to: https://www.nottinghamhospitalscharity.org.uk

• Rainbows Children’s Hospice (charity no: 1014051) - Rainbows is our local children's hospice, such a vital service supporting families with children with live limiting conditions through family support, end of life care, counselling, respite & short breaks and symptom management . While we don't access Rainbows, we have seen the incredible support they provide and for us, knowing they're there if we need them is such a great reassurance. To find out more go to: www.rainbows.co.uk

• Helen & Douglas House Children's Hospice (charity no: 1085951) - this is the only non-local non profit we are supporting but we've seen the amazing difference they make as Helen & Douglas House support a young person I work with called Sienna and her family (you can read a little about them here: https://pawsitivesquad.co.uk/sienna-sunny/) so we decided they were the perfect 5th organisation to share any funds raised with. You can find out more about helen & douglas house here: https://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/

Any donations to support Izzy's 5 before 5 challenges will be split evenly between the 5 organisations and distributed within a fortnight of Izzy's mid october birthday.

We also decided that we would make the foot and handprints created through one of her challenges into cards to share with key workers and 'good samaritans' to thank them for all their hard work during the pandemic as well as vulnerable and isolated people who, we hope, will feel a moment of cheer recieiving their card.

With around 3 months left to go before her birthday, Izzy is well on the way to completing her 5 challenges and has so far achieved (as of the 13th of July 2021):

• 90 out of 500 sit-ups with support / push up shoulders

• 115 out of 500 ball throws

• 71 out of 500 switch presses - Ask Pepsi to take her blanket and socks off.

• 422 out of 500 foot & handprint paintings

• 45 out of 500 giggles

We have also handed out over 100 of Izzys cards to wonderful keyworkers including fire fighters, NCT bus drivers, paramedics & NHS hospital staff and staff & volunteers from various care homes, charities, food banks, womens centres and lots of other wonderful places & people who provide vital services before and during the pandemic. Cards have also been distributed to some care home residents.

We hope her challenges help to raise some funds to support these amazing organisations and that her cards spread some joy. These challenges are so precious, every second she smiles, every cuddle, every little footprint, sit up and ball throw is a wonderful memory and moments of happiness for us all, even on the hardest of days.

There are loads of ways you can support Izzy's 5 challenges before 5, including liking and sharing her facebook & justgiving page, sending funny child friendly videos and messages to encourage Izzy to giggle (we need 500 giggles for one of the challenges!), you can also recommend places for us to send cards to and, if you're able to, we hugely appreciate every one off or monthly donation made to support the 5 amazing non profits made here.

To find out more and for regular updates please visit Izzy's challenges facebook page at www.facebook.com/Izzys5before5