It's a sad coincidence that the date of this years' Great North Run is exactly one year on from the date of Emilie's passing. For those of you who don't know, Emilie Rose Dalglish was a truly remarkable little girl, and the reason for me running this half-marathon. She will be my inspiration when I pull on my trainers on race day morning, my motivation when I want to quit, and at the forefront of my mind when I finally cross the finish line.

My dear friends Sophie and Sandy's daughter, Emilie was born in Harrogate on 3rd August 2015, delivered by emergency c-section 3 weeks before her due date. Although presenting well on delivery, Emilie's health went downhill rapidly, and she transferred to the Neonatal Unit at Leeds General Infirmary that evening where she resided for the following 5 weeks. 

After the most incredible battle, this beautiful girl sadly lost her fight and passed away peacefully in her parents arms on 11th September. In her memory, I would like to raise money for the extraordinary Neonatal Unit at the LGI, without which Emilie wouldn't have had the fighting chance she was given, and Sophie and Sandy wouldn't have had the precious weeks they did with her. 

Even the smallest donation will help, so please give whatever you can. In doing so, you will be helping Leeds Neonatal Service care for other poorly babies, and support their parents, who are faced with similar circumstances.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: The money raised will be used to fund the following items, which the Neonatal Unit are currently in great need of:

• Philips Central Monitoring System
  
• Masimo Radical-7 oxygen saturation monitors
  
• MIRIS Human breast milk analyser
  
• Trans-illuminator lamp
  
• Freestanding spotlight for clinical procedures
  

ABOUT THE UNIT: Leeds Neonatal Service is one of the largest neonatal services in the UK. They care for around 1800 babies each year, many of which require intensive care or surgery. They look after babies born too poorly or too soon from the whole of the Yorkshire Neonatal network and beyond. Being a tertiary unit, they are one of the few who are able to care for babies from 24 weeks gestation and for those babies requiring longer term intensive care.