10 years ago my very good friends Jim & Louise Barrett had their first child - Ellis. We were all very excited for them as they were the first in our circle of friends to start a family.

Ellis came home with them on the Friday evening, I hadn't had a chance to go and see them in hospital but was going to pop round for a cuppa over the weekend once everyone had settled in. I remember this like it was just last weekend, a relatively nice Saturday morning for February so I had decided to take my puppy Wallace for a walk, I had left the house about five minutes and I saw Jim and Louise's car coming down the road and cheerfully started to wave at them. The car just stop and Louise came out the car and threw her arms around me. "We have lost Ellis" was all she said, this didn't really sink in with me so my first reply was "What - at the supermarket or something, did you forget you had him !" "No, he is dead".

When you hear those words, it is hard to describe the numbness that runs through you when its a very close friend, Jim was just stood to the side of us, ashen.

I took Wallace straight home and ran straight round to their house - luckily its was only a few minutes away. I was still in a state of shock which only escalated when I got to their house, it was full of police which really was the last thing I had expected to see, just awful. The rest of that afternoon is a bit of a blur. Something that I hope never to see again or would want anyone to go through.

Jim & Louise have campaigned tirelessly to raise vital funds for FSID and we all try and do our bit every now and again. At the start of this year at work we were all saying how we need to lose weight and get fit as everyone does. I however, am very lucky where I work, we have a triathlon club - The Blue Lagooners - and it was suggested we have a go at doing the triathlon they are holding on August Bank Holiday Monday. I just started laughing - not a chance, you're not serious? OK so now I am doing a triathlon. Joking about I put a status update on Facebook as people know I am not one for going to the gym or running and this is where Andy comes into the picture after seeing the update and asked if he could join in and suggested doing it for a charity and was only to happy to help for FSID.

So dig deep, for us to complete a 750 meter swim, 5km run and finish the day with a 20km bike ride to help us both achieve our target.

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So please dig deep and donate now.