Thanks for taking the time to visit this JustGiving page.

As some of you may know, our daughter Erin was diagnosed with DDH/CDH (dislocated hips) at birth, and spent the first thirteen weeks of her life in a Pavlik Harness to try and fix them.

Unfortunately, the treatment didn't work, so now she faces an operation and a minimum of three months in a hip spica cast, which goes from chest to ankle. It's a daunting prospect.

Throughout the first four months of her life, the Steps charity have been amazing. Via their website, email, telephone helpline and post, they have provided ongoing gentle support, information about treatments and options, put us in contact with other families who have been through this as well as valuable resources and factsheets about how to care for our child on a daily basis.

The NHS has been great, but we would be quite lost and isolated without the ongoing support of this amazing charity.

I hadn't ever heard of CDH/DDH before Erin was diagnosed. It affects about 1/1000 babies, and is usually treated successfully by the time they are two. If left untreated, it can cause complications with mobility, and lead to problems in later life, like early-onset arthritis and hip replacements at an early age.

Now Erin has been diagnosed and is undergoing treatment, we know not to take walking for granted. To recognise this, we're going to be walking 10k this Saturday 30 June, International Hip Awareness Day, to raise funds for Steps, which has been - and continues to be - so helpful to us on our treatment journey.

We're going to be walking 10km along Brighton seafront, whatever the eather. Erin and I will be joined by my husband, Paul, my sister Anna + brother-out-law Bobbie and their son Linus. Twelve feet, ten kilometres, eight wheels, six miles, four adults, two babies, one challenge.

If you can spare a few pounds to support our efforts, I know it will make a huge difference to Steps, which is entirely independent of the NHS and relies solely on charitable donations for its survival.

----

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.