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Every year in December I watch hundreds of people dressed as Father Christmas gather in the square near my house, doing a warm up before a 5km run around the town centre. I've always thought it looked like so much fun but if you know me then you'll know I'm not very sporty, so running 5km didn't seem realistic.

Recently I was really inspired to raise much needed funds for my favourite charity, the Heart Walk Foundation. I've been donating website design & development services to them via my business throughout 2018. During that time I have been getting to know about the work they do for indigenous communities living in remote areas of the Andes in Peru. 

A few weeks ago I watched a short story about how many women die during childbirth, and how almost every family in the community has lost a baby or child because infant mortality rates are so high https://vimeo.com/channels/qerolife/299700172. This is due to the lack of medical care in those remote regions: access is really difficult, with no road infrastructure in the mountains where villages are located at high altitudes. 

I was inspired to raise funds to help pay for health care in the region. Why did this resonate with me so deeply? Because if I hadn't had access to a doctor and medical care during my first childbirth, neither myself nor my son Alex would be here. After 36 hours of labour I ended up having an emergency cesarean section. I wouldn't have made it without medical help.

So this year I'm putting on my Christmas outfit and I'm running 5km for women and children in the Q'ero communities of Peru, so that they have more funding for much-needed medical care during childbirth and the first years of infancy. 

Thank you for helping me to achieve this goal. Your donation will be sent DIRECTLY to Heart Walk Foundation via this page.