On 29th September 2021 our beautiful daughter, Evie Rose Robertson, came into our world. Unknown to us during Lotti's pregnancy, Evie was born with a very rare genetic condition called Apert Syndrome. Apert syndrome causes anomalies of the skull, hands and feet to various degrees depending on each individual and in Evie's case caused early fusion of some of the bones in her skull, hands and feet. This all came as an immense shock to us having not been aware of this throughout the pregnancy and we have gone through an immense learning process in a very short period of time. Evie is now 7 months old and amazes us with her strength and resolve every day. One of the main concerns associated with Apert Syndrome is pressure on the brain due to an early fusion of the bones in the skull and tests established that Evie had early signs of pressure a month ago. So, Evie had already been through one major surgery at GOSH on 1st April to release some of her fused fingers on her left hand when we found out she would need to have a posterior vault expansion to create a new shape for the skull and give space for her brain to grow normally. Evie had this reconstructive skull operation last week and to all our amazement she was home three days later and has barely complained since. Incredible. Evie will need to have further surgeries at various points in her life and we are absolutely in awe of the surgeons, doctors and nurses at GOSH. They have been truly incredible and we have the deepest trust in them. Having said I would never run another marathon before last year's event, Evie was born four days before the marathon and whilst I was running it in a pretty emotional state I think I had already made my mind up that I would do it for GOSH next year. The care that they give is first class and without them it is an understatement to say that Evie's future would look very different. All being well Evie will grow up to live a very normal life and if these amazing people at GOSH didn't exist there is no way that would be the case. I know this hospital has touched many hearts before and it is a cause that I will support for the rest of my life. Evie is a rock and she is already an example for us with her strength and determination. I will be running the marathon for her and for GOSH and any donations would be hugely appreciated. My father-in-law, Jamie Mellor aka Billy Goat Gruff will also be walking from the West Coast to the East Coast of Scotland to help raise funds. We have a target of £2000 but to be frank we would like to absolutely smash that. For those of you who have met Evie you will have seen what a cool, calm and collected girl she is and those of you who haven't will soon enough! 

A quick addition to this fundraising effort. On 15th October a group of us will be doing the Lisbon half Ironman and the group wanted to also contritbute to this fundraising effort. Myself, Tom Ballantine and Steven Weare will be doing a relay half iron-man (1 leg each), Jackson Bent, Alex Bevilacqua, Caroline Fraser and Oli Stephenson will be doing the half Ironman and Oscar Clark-Ryan will be doing the FULL Ironman (mainly because he signed up to the full one by mistake……)! It will be a huge effort and hopefully we can raise some more funds for Evie along the way.