Hi all, As most of you know, I'm Ian, a farmer from Essex. 

I'm running the London Marathon to raise money for Norfolk and Norwich Neonatal intensive care unit. I have chosen this charity because of a little boy called Teddie! 

Teddie is the son of Hannah (our shepherdess here on the farm) and partner, Fraiser. He was born last year on the 11th July weighing 5lb 5oz at Broomfield hospital. When Teddie was born there were some obvious issues with his breathing which lead to intensive care on the neonatal ward. His lungs were working but the blood vessels carrying oxygen were not opening to there full potential. This lead to respiratory distress syndrome due to very low blood oxygen levels. Broomfield unfortunately couldn't manage his condition and paNDR (Neonatal ambulance service) transferred him to Norfolk and Norwich NICU. 

They arrived at the NICU where Teddie was sedated and ventilated for 7 weeks to help him breath whilst he got stronger with steroid courses, antibiotics, and amazing care from nurses and consultants. At 3 weeks Hannah and Fraiser took part in new genetic testing which resulted in a diagnosis at 5 weeks old. 

Teddie was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disorder called Brain, Lung, Thyroid syndrome. This explains the problems he had with his lungs and his under active thyroid. The diagnosis have very small numbers of affected patients and there is very little information on his future care and progress.There are only 120 reported cases on the database.  

During their stay at N&N, they were housed by the NICU on the ward for 4 weeks and then in the parents house on site at the hospital. This is funded by the ward to ensure the parents can stay with their babies during treatment. Hannah explained," the nurses became family and without the expert care and compassion for us and Teddie the whole situation could have been a thousand times worst".

Teddie, Hannah and Fraiser were at N&N for a total of 71 days before being transferred back to paediatrics at Broomfield. They lived at the hospital with only 1 night back home to check up on there lives that continued in the background.

Teddie is now 7 months old and a happy baby growing up with two farmers as parents (lucky  boy). He wouldn't be where he is now without the outstanding care from the staff at N&N NICU!

I'm raising money to help fund state of the art equipment used for the NICU babies, to support families living their lives in the four walls of the ward until their babies are well enough to move on and to assist in helping the nurses get the additional training they require and rest areas to ensure they are looked after as well as they look after their patients and parents.

Please support such an amazing cause, they deserve our help, Teddie is only 1 baby out of thousands of unwell, premature babies supported by Norfolk and Norwich NICU!

Wish me luck, training is going well and chasing sheep is now a productive exercise!