I’m running the London Marathon for our daughter Eva, because without Royal Preston Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, she wouldn’t be here today.

Eva was born three months premature and weighed just 1lb 5oz. From the very beginning, her life hung by a thread. What followed was 98 days in NICU, days measured not in hours, but in heartbeats, alarms, and silent prayers.

The first time I ever held Eva, she stopped breathing in my arms.

Within seconds, doctors and nurses rushed in. Eva was resuscitated not once, but several times during her fight for survival. Those moments are burned into our memory forever. Standing there, helpless, watching your newborn daughter being brought back to life is something no parent is ever prepared for.

Over the next three months, Eva showed a strength I still struggle to comprehend. She depended on multiple ventilators to breathe, underwent heart and brain scans, invasive eye tests, blood transfusions, infections, isolation, and more procedures than any child should ever endure. Time and time again, the NICU team stepped in calmly, professionally, and with extraordinary compassion to save her life.

They didn’t just care for Eva. They carried us as parents through the darkest period of our lives.

Because of them, Eva survived. Because of them, she came home. Because of them, she now has a future.

Running 26.2 miles will be painful. There will be moments when I will want to stop. But every step I take is nothing compared to what Eva fought through in her first three months of life, and nothing compared to what those doctors and nurses do every single day for families like ours.

I’m raising money to support Royal Preston Hospital’s NICU so that other babies get the same chance Eva was given and so other parents don’t have to face those moments without the equipment, care, and incredible people who made all the difference for us.

If you’re able to donate, please know that your support helps save lives. It helps fund vital equipment like incubators. And it helps turn the worst days of a family’s life into a story of survival.

Thank you for standing with us, for Eva, and for every tiny fighter still fighting today.

Neil x