James suffered from a severe lack of oxygen at birth which has had lasting effects on his physical development. He is diagnosed with dystonic cerebral palsy which presents itself as stiffness in his arms, therefore he cannot use his arms effectively to play or feed himself. He also has other physical difficulties including weak core muscles which means he cannot sit independently, stand or walk. We are also unsure as to whether James will communicate through speech in the future. Despite his difficulties James is a delightful and determined little boy who will go far in life with the right early intervention and support.

As we progress further into James' journey we are learning that the more we can do for him now, the more chance there is of him being able to lead an independant life in the future.

Thanks to the generosity of family, friends and work collegues sponsoring Sarah to complete the Great North Run in September 2017 we raised over £1000 to allow James to increase his weekly private physiotherapy (funded by us) to 3 times every 2 weeks (we only receive one session of physiotherapy every 6 weeks from the NHS, which isnt really enough to support James' development effectively). As a result, we have seen slow but steady progress with the functionality of his arms, strength when sitting/standing and the strength/co-ordination to move on to his side.

A few months ago I signed up for the Leeds half marathon as a motivation to keep running after the Great North Run and as a personal challenge to run a half marsthon in under 2 hours And 4 minites which I achieved last September.

I hadn't been planning on fundraising when doing this event, however, a few friends and family members have asked if I was fundraising, after all a half marathon is not a walk in the park (!! Mum joke alert!) even for someone who likes running!

Therefore, we see any money raised as a bonus to the the amazing amount that was raised last year and it will just allow there to be enough funds to continue the frequency of private physiotherapy we now provide James.

We are also currently trialling different methods of communication for James in the absence of speech and often specialist switches are quite expensive. We are finding that it is not an option to rely on the NHS to provide this equipment as the process is just too slow, therefore, additional funds will also support the purchase of switches for communication and switch adapted toys for James.

If you would like to support my cause, motivate me or make me run faster please feel free to donate any pennies that will in turn support James' journey to independance.