The Little Magpie Fund was launched to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children by Eva and Obi Asika, in memory of their son, Magnus Asika.

Our story:

Magnus, or Magpie as we call him, was our utterly beautiful, brave little boy who sadly passed away at 9 months old in July 2022 due to an extremely rare heart condition in babies called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Magnus was a patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for the majority of his life. Here he received First Class care and support, and we as a family are eternally grateful to the wonderful staff and workers who cared for him with integrity and ultimately love.

When we heard about a new pilot scheme GOSH required funds for we knew we wanted to help. The hospital need to raise £350,000 for piloting an important new unit for patients who require more enhanced and complex care than standard ward patients, but who are not so unwell that they need to be treated on an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) which will sit alongside the High Dependency Units (HDU). HDUs are wards for patients who need more intensive observation, treatment and nursing care than is possible in a general ward, but slightly less than that given in ICU.

Little Magnus would have really benefitted from this alternative type of unit so having the opportunity to help raise the funding to put this in place couldn't be closer to our hearts. Children and their parents are going through unimaginable times this very moment, and units like this will make a real change for some of the patients who require the most care.

What we are doing:

There are lots of exciting plans ahead for Little Magpie Fund but the first huge adventure we had was The Magpie Trail. An ultra walking and cycling challenge starting in South Wales and ending in London!

Obi and Eva, with a small team of friends and family, faced a massive walking and cycling relay starting from Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales all the way to Great Ormond St Chapel, London, England. As if that wasn't far enough this challenge took place over just 4 days, with over 50 miles being covered each day.

Obi and Eva had the lion's share of the milage with the two covering over 79 miles in the 4 days. That's 3 marathon's in 4 days - phew! They walked 26 miles every day - with one rest day - and then a team of walkers either walked overnight or cycled the remaining 26 miles. We raised over £40,000!

And we now have a new target of £60,000!

The next challenge is to be revealed soon....

Donating:

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, we hope that you can see why this is such an important challenge for us. Every penny will make a difference, and 100% of the donations go to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

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.

Follow the challenge: instagram.com/littlemagpiefund