Hi, my name is Eva Dean and I am 13 years old and on the 8th of August I am going to be walking a marathon in hopes to make at least £500 for CDH UK.

I am doing this because both of my cousins were born with CDH and were very lucky to survive birth. They had to have surgery when they were born and they both now have matching scars across their stomach.

CDH stands for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, a serious birth defect where a baby's diaphragm fails to form fully, allowing abdominal organs to move into the chest and crowd the developing lungs. It affects approximately 1 in 2,500 births globally, accounting for up to 300 cases in the UK annually. Overall survival rates range from 60% to 85%, depending heavily on defect severity and the presence of additional anomalies. The sibling recurrence risk gor CDH is generally estimated to be about 1% to 2% following one affected child.