No. 10 Here I come......

I am so proud that I am part of a Team Lily. Many of our runners are running in memory of their little loved ones, and others because they are touched by our cause.
It has been tradition over the years that I run with my brother in law JP, but sadly he is unable to run this year and I do honestly think I will really miss his moaning and the pub stops!!!

Most of you will know about Lily and The Lily Foundation and some of you will know just how much we have achieved.
Lily was my third daughter and lost her short little life to a mitochondrial disease. She died aged 8 months old after being told at 7 weeks old that she had just days to live. These extra six months were very precious and we have some treasured moments. Possibly most importantly we have some happy memories to share with Lily's sisters Katie and Rosie when they ask us questions about their little sister.


After Lily died, with the help of her uncle, Jonathan Pearce we set up the Lily Foundation. Lily died on 30th April 2007 and by October we had a website, a logo, a bank account and a charity number and we haven't looked back. It has been almost 10 years since we lost Lily and we have raised over £2.0 million! How proud are we!!!!!

The charity has 3 main aims; research, awareness and support. We continue to fund a diagnostic programme which is a collaboration of the specialists mitochondrial research centres in the UK. This includes, the Children's Evelina Hospital, Great Ormond Street, The John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford and Newcastle University. As part of this project we are so proud to be funding 2 Research Fellows one in London and one in Newcastle, a bioinformatician at Guys. We also fund two PHD students working on this project and others. We also fund a specialist Mitochondrial Nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital and are in the process of recruiting another in Oxford. This year we have also expanded our research strategy to look for treatments of Mitochondrial Diseases.We have committed a further £600,000 to this over a 3 year period. 

Finally we provide support for families who find themselves in the position that Liz and I found ourselves nearly 10 years ago. Liz is there to answer the phone or an email to any parent or family relative. We send families with sick children to Center Parcs to build special memories and families who have lost a child, as it is important to be able to readjust to new family dynamics at times like these. We also sponsor rooms around the country in special accommodation which houses families who have sick children in hospital, to enable mum, dad and siblings to be close to their poorly child. Over the past two years we have been able to fund a Lily Family weekend for our families - offering access to the best doctors in this field of medicine in the UK, the opportunity to meet each other to share stories and gain strength! We hope to hold our third later this year.

The past ten years have been amazing, we have seen the charity grow from strength to strength. We have achieved so much but we still have so much to do. Please help us to achieve this by sponsoring me.
To find out more about The Lily Foundation please visit our website www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk
I know I have asked before, but please sponsor me - the money you help us to raise year on year really does make a difference.
Thanks


DAVE

The Lily Foundation was founded in Lily's memory, having lost her battle to Mitochondrial Disease at just eight months old. The charity aims to give hope, answers and support to the many other children and families that face the challenges of this disease today.Did you know every twenty minutes a child is born who will develop Mitochondrial Disease by the age of 16! There is no cure for this disease which is for many, debilitating and life limiting.Please stand with us and fight Mitochondrial Disease and fight for hope.