In September 2017 my son Tom headed off to University in Cardiff to study Geology. One month later he was critically ill with pneumonia and was fighting for his life in the Critical Care Unit at UHW in Cardiff. Tom was a healthy and fit individual and this illness had come completely out of the blue. The infection was so badly affecting his heart and lungs that we were told to expect the worse.

Tom was too ill for conventional care, so the consultants reached out for the advanced therapy offered by the ECMO team from St Thomas’ Hospital. This was his only hope of recovery.

You have probably heard ECMO mentioned in the news recently in the context of Covid. ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation. The ECMO machine acts like an artificial lung or heart machine for patients with severe respiratory or cardiac failure.
This method allows the blood to 'bypass' the heart and lungs, allowing them to rest and get better.

At the moment there is no ECMO service in Wales, but the amazing team at UHW had the foresight to refer Tom for life-saving ECMO at St Thomas' London, and that saved his life. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing and well-connected NHS across the UK!

In September 2018 I completed my 182 mile Walk4ECMO charity walk from UHW in Cardiff to St Thomas’ in London. This challenge was my personal tribute marking the first steps of Tom’s journey with the ECMO retrieval team on his ‘road to recovery’ and to celebrate the special connection my family have with these two hospitals.

In recent years I have supported a number of charity challenges and events in both UHW and St Thomas' in London.

I am really looking forward to participating in the 'NHS 5K - Do It Your Way' event on Sunday 31st July 2022. In the spirit of Walk4ECMO I will be walking the 5K and hoping to meet and chat with other participants and make some new friends in this community event.

I am proud ex-pupil of Bishop Of Llandaff, just down the road, and spent many an afternoon playing school rugby in Pontcanna fields, so I am very much looking forward to this event for a bit of a trip down memory lane too.

Thank you for supporting your the Cardiff & Vale Health Charity by making a donation to support all the good work they do!

Web: www.walk4ecmo.co.uk
Twitter: @Walk4ECMO