In April 2024 my lovely dad was diagnosed with a large abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was given the option to manage the aneurysm with open surgery, which came with a number of risks, or wait. Waiting came with the risk of rupture - if a rupture occurred, there would be an 80% chance that he would die almost immediately. He chose open surgery, which he underwent on the 16th of September 2024. During the operation, he suffered a haemorrhage which would leave his organs without a proper blood supply for 90 minutes.

Having survived the operation, he was transferred to the critical care unit at Colchester Hospital where he was put on life support in an attempt to help his body to cope with the trauma.

At the time of writing, he is still recovering and we wake up each day hoping that today will be the day he wakes and speaks to us again.

Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE exercise so this seemed an appropriate way to fundraise for The Aortic Centre Foundation, which funds research into aortic disease in the UK.

I hope that with the work of the critical care team and a bit of luck, he will be there to watch me cross the finish line (and tell me what a stupid idea this was!)

Update:

We are so pleased to say that dad finally woke up on the 21st September after 5.5 days in an induced coma. He has a long road to recovery ahead, and I have a long road to run!