Story
IS OLLY CRAZY? HE'S DOING THE LONDON DUATHLON ON SEPT 13th.
AND NOW ALAN, CHRISTINE, LISA, JEREMY & DUNCAN ARE DOING IT TOO!!
As many of you know, Maggie spent the first two weeks of her young life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
You'll also know that the care she received was just brilliant in every way; And they even found time to support us too.
What you might not know, is that (with the exception of Great Ormond Street) Chelsea & Westminter has THE ONLY 24 HOUR FULLY STAFFED EMERGENCY PAEDIATRIC DEPARTMENT for the region. If you live ANYWHERE in the South East, and you're unfortunate to have a baby with a serious or rare condition, the likelihood is your baby will come here for treatment. We met mothers from Southampton, Basildon and Bucks.
What's important is that NICU costs £1400 per day for each baby. (Maggie was there for ten days and the unit was always full.)
There were parents sat by the same incubator for the whole ten days when we arrived. And still in the same position when we left. Another couple had just had their premature son moved into High Dependency after FOUR MONTHS in Intensive Care. Many of the babies are premature babies - some, astonishingly, under 2lbs.
What you'll also know, is that I (Olly) have been certified as Sedantry by two BSc Sport Scientists. The fact that I'll be going anywhere near anything mildly athletic is crazy. I've also been informed that cheating is not an option. That's why I've enlisted former London & New York Marathon Runner Alan Howell, otherwise known as Maggie's Grandfather, to run the first 10K leg of the course. The rest of us are fighting over the 10k bike ride and 5k runs. I'm leading team two and going for the 10k run (don't laugh). We've got TWO TEAMS - that's SIX of us.
The London Duathlon is organised by Chelsea & Westminster Health Charity and all money goes solely to the NICU, so many, many other babies will benefit directly from athletes.
10p per kilometre would mean a donation of £3.50. With GiftAid - which means you have to do nothing but supply your name & address - we get an extra 28% - making your donation nearly a fiver. But anything would be fantastic.
Maggie, by the way, is fighting fit now, eating incredibly well and sleeping like a log. She's part of the Chelsea & Westminster 7 Star programme - which is nothing more than 2 years of check-ups (the exemplary care continues) and we're expecting her lungs to be pretty much nigh on normal capacity before too long. So, a very happy ending.
As for running 10 clicks .....
AND NOW ALAN, CHRISTINE, LISA, JEREMY & DUNCAN ARE DOING IT TOO!!
As many of you know, Maggie spent the first two weeks of her young life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
You'll also know that the care she received was just brilliant in every way; And they even found time to support us too.
What you might not know, is that (with the exception of Great Ormond Street) Chelsea & Westminter has THE ONLY 24 HOUR FULLY STAFFED EMERGENCY PAEDIATRIC DEPARTMENT for the region. If you live ANYWHERE in the South East, and you're unfortunate to have a baby with a serious or rare condition, the likelihood is your baby will come here for treatment. We met mothers from Southampton, Basildon and Bucks.
What's important is that NICU costs £1400 per day for each baby. (Maggie was there for ten days and the unit was always full.)
There were parents sat by the same incubator for the whole ten days when we arrived. And still in the same position when we left. Another couple had just had their premature son moved into High Dependency after FOUR MONTHS in Intensive Care. Many of the babies are premature babies - some, astonishingly, under 2lbs.
What you'll also know, is that I (Olly) have been certified as Sedantry by two BSc Sport Scientists. The fact that I'll be going anywhere near anything mildly athletic is crazy. I've also been informed that cheating is not an option. That's why I've enlisted former London & New York Marathon Runner Alan Howell, otherwise known as Maggie's Grandfather, to run the first 10K leg of the course. The rest of us are fighting over the 10k bike ride and 5k runs. I'm leading team two and going for the 10k run (don't laugh). We've got TWO TEAMS - that's SIX of us.
The London Duathlon is organised by Chelsea & Westminster Health Charity and all money goes solely to the NICU, so many, many other babies will benefit directly from athletes.
10p per kilometre would mean a donation of £3.50. With GiftAid - which means you have to do nothing but supply your name & address - we get an extra 28% - making your donation nearly a fiver. But anything would be fantastic.
Maggie, by the way, is fighting fit now, eating incredibly well and sleeping like a log. She's part of the Chelsea & Westminster 7 Star programme - which is nothing more than 2 years of check-ups (the exemplary care continues) and we're expecting her lungs to be pretty much nigh on normal capacity before too long. So, a very happy ending.
As for running 10 clicks .....