On my 29th birthday, I was given the best birthday present ever as my eldest son, Harry was born.
24 hours later, Harry was rushed to Alder Hey Hospital where he was diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries. We were told it was one of the more complicated heart conditions and once fixed it would be fixed for life but the operation was very complicated and Harry picked up an infection while in Intensive Care and we didn't know what the outcome would be. At a time when our lives had turned upside down, Ronald McDonald House Liverpool gave us a lifeline; they gave us somewhere to stay, a clean room with a bathroom and a place to call home whilst we battled through the worst weeks of our lives.
Ronald McDonald House Liverpool is run entirely on donations, it is not given any government funding and it is an independently run house, it doesn't receive any funding from the main Ronald McDonald House Charity - it relies totally and solely on donations and fundraising events like the one I'm doing next year.
I had to say good night to Harry when he was 7 weeks old and as he would be 18 in December this year, I have decided to run my first (and probably my one and only) marathon for him and to raise as much money as I possibly can for RMCH Liverpool as a thank you for helping at a time when it was needed the most.
I'm not sure what scares me the most - running 26.2 miles or raising £2,000 but I know I'm going to have a lot of fun, tears, tantrums and laughter along the way and I hope you can support my journey.
My company, Bliss Events Company will also be raising money on my behalf through our various shows, Bliss Wedding Shows, The Liverpool & North West Wedding Show and RunFit Expo and we will be running competitions to win stands at these shows throughout the next 12 months.
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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.