Ollie and I are really excited about running the London Marathon, it’s genuinely something we've always wanted to do, together. We are not aiming for a time, we definitely won’t win, we just want to enjoy it (if that’s even possible) and finish it together thinking about our beautiful little girl.... Minnie Q. 

Back in October 2014, my awesome younger brother Ollie and his amazing wife Amy, lost their new born daughter Minnie at 1 day old due to an undetected lung infection which was not identified until immediately after she was born. Minnie was absolutely beautiful, perfect in every way. I will personally cherish the few short moments I had cuddling and holding Minnie forever, she was and is an angel. This was an extremely traumatic and upsetting experience, one which Ollie, Amy and both Ollie's and Amy's families will never get over or really truly understand. Just moments after losing Minnie, SANDS kindly provided a memory box. We put the name tags, the usual keep sakes associated with a new baby into this box. Unfortunately, this was all Ollie & Amy walked away from the hospital with that day, a vivid and raw memory I will never forget.

In May this year Ollie and Amy have had their 3rd Child Arlo, just like Alfie (their first Child) and Minnie, Arlo is beautiful and awesome. As soon as Arlo was born we started discussing things we could do to support the people who supported Ollie and Amy over the previous years. We now feel like it’s the right time for us to do something for these amazing people.

SANDS have supported Ollie and Amy in so many ways, they’ve always been there and we really want to support this wonderful charity so that SANDS can continue help other families who unfortunately may have the same or similar harrowing experience. We would like to raise as much money as we can, we think it’s the best way to say thank you.

It’s going to be an emotional and brilliant day in so many ways and we can’ t think of a better way to do something really positive for Minnie Q. We aim to cross the line together but in all honesty, we can’t wait for the sprint finish to see who wins and who actually, is in fact, the best brother!

Thanks for reading and thanks to all of you who donate to support this amazing charity. 

Love Ben & Ollie xx