On Friday 4th June 2021at 8am, I will be putting myself through 100 miles of running pain to raise awareness and support for the little known, but hugely worthy charity Microtia UK. 

About Ava and her Microtia

As some of you may know, my daughter Ava was born with unilateral Microtia affecting her right ear. In simple terms, her outer ear and ear canal did not develop properly, resulting in a ‘little’ ear and almost complete hearing loss on her right side. This was something which didn’t show up on any ultrasound and came as a surprise to us when Ava was born. Despite being a completely normal, happy girl in every aspect of life, Ava’s Microtia means that she often has to work twice as hard in a lot of settings – from being at school to crowded shopping centres or other noisy environments, she can lose her spatial awareness quite easily and find certain loud sounds distressing. 

For that reason, Ava occasionally wears a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) and, under the care of Great Ormond Street Hospital, will have the option of surgery in later childhood to potentially reconstruct her outer ear, provide a more permanently fixed hearing aid, both, or neither -  depending on what she decides. 

Ava is now 6 years old and an amazing little girl that her mother and I love more than anything. We love her little ear and wouldn't change anything about her. She's a kind, sweet natured girl who loves to get involved in absolutely everything and we really couldn't be prouder of what an exceptional little lady she is growing up to be. 

About the Charity                                                            

Microtia UK is a registered charity that is dedicated to providing support, information and resources to those affected by Microtia. Thanks to this support we, as parents, were able to quickly understand Ava’s condition, her options in the future and as a result, avoid feeling overwhelmed. This allowed us to enjoy every moment of her early life, love her ‘little’ ear and focus on bringing her up to be the funny, confident, capable and intelligent little girl we are so very proud of - equipped, thanks to Microtia UK to support her in the challenges and choices she may face.

About the challenge

On 4^th June, I plan to run 100 miles (just under 4 back to back marathons). I've drafted a route on Strava with the objective to complete the challenge in one piece and raise some money in the process.

I'm a fairly new runner who by no means has come from an athletic background so the distance is a pretty big deal to me. After starting running in 2018 with a modest one mile adventure, I nearly died from an attack of exercise-induced anaphylaxis whilst on a run in 2019. In 2020 - the year of lockdown  - I went from half marathon distance to completing a 50 mile run at the end of the year. In February 2021 I completed my first 60 mile run (this almost broke me). The 100 miler is something that I'm not completely sure that I can achieve, as it will be incredibly painful mentally and physically, but I've been thinking about it for a while now and am ready to give it a go!

I've linked my Strava account to record the main run and I'm hoping that I'll be able to complete the route in somewhere between 30 - 35 hours but just getting through it will be the main focus. I'll upload a Strava GPS tracking beacon on the day for anyone interested in live progress and also try to upload a few Facebook live updates along the way. I'm hoping to be joined for a few miles at various points by some friends and family members for shorter distances, but the majority of it will likely be on my own. 

Should you decide to donate money or simply share and like posts that raise awareness of this cause, it's all greatly appreciated by Laura, Ava and myself so thank you! 

Any donations you can spare go directly to the charity Microtia UK.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.

Here's a link to the Microtia UK website:

http://www.microtiauk.org