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Over the course of this year I will be running 4 half-marathons (totalling 52.4miles).  I’m running a half marathon in the North, South, East and West of the UK to raise money for Great Ormand Street Hospital. 

 

I am running for this charity in memory of my friend’s beautiful baby girl, Jeannie.

 

At just 6 weeks old, Jeannie was admitted to the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton where she was diagnosed with Whooping Cough.  As her condition worsened she was transferred to the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London where she underwent 2 blood transfusions.  In a final attempt to save her life she was taken to Great Ormand Street Hospital and placed on an ECMO machine that essentially did the work of her heart and lungs for her.  She remained on the ECMO machine for 21 days but devastatingly, the damage that Whooping Cough had caused, proved just too much for her and on the 02^nd October 2009, beautiful little Jeannie died peacefully in the arms of her parents, Matt & Emma.

 

Matt & Emma would like to raise awareness of the disastrous consequences of Whooping Cough in young babies.  Whooping Cough is a preventable disease but cases of it are on the increase.   Jeannie only had 2 more weeks to go until she could have been inoculated against it at 8 weeks old.  Inoculations exist for a reason.  If you, or anyone you know, ever doubted the need to protect children against Whooping Cough or any of the other preventable diseases on the inoculations list, then please spare a thought for Jeannie and her family, for whom the consequences of Whooping Cough have been so utterly devastating.

 

There are only a handful of ECMO machines available in the UK. They cost £50,000 to purchase and require 2 highly skilled nurses to run it 24 hours a day.  Any donation will be very gratefully received by GOSH as it will allow them to buy more equipment, increase staffing levels and continue the fantastic work and support they offer to families.  Please dig deep and donate.

 

The runs I will be doing are:

 

1st Race – Hastings Half Marathon 21^st March 2010

2^nd Race – Southend, Essex Half Marathon 13^th June 2010

3^rd Race – Great North Run – Newcastle Half Marathon – 19^th Sept 2010

4^th Race – Cardiff Half Marathon – 17^th October 2010

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.   Maribel x

 

PS: I know not everyone is comfortable donating online, therefore I will also have an old fashioned, paper sponsorship form you can sign up to if you would prefer. 

 

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.