Sarah and I are taking on the London marathon to raise money for Birmingham Children's Hospital.

As a family we have been fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital since 2009 in memory of our daughter and sister Emilia who passed away unexpectedly aged just 9 months. We have skydived, held raffles, cake sales, abseiled, ran and recycled Christmas trees. £92,650 had been raised so far which has purchased 2 renal scanners and a hoist as well as supporting many other projects.

This year we are aiming to reach the £100,000 milestone as a family and to make a huge contribution to the £18,000 needed to refurbish a play den on ward 10 which supports neurosurgery and spinal injury patients including those with brain tumours. Taking part in the London Marathon is one way in which we are aiming to reach this goal.

I cannot thank Sarah enough for the encouragement and support she has given me and agreeing to run with me on this. I am not a runner by any means and believe this will be my toughest challenge ever.

Many of you will know why we have chosen this charity but for those who are new to the Edwards Family fundraising I have outlined a little of our story below.

In a routine pregnancy scan it was detected that Emilia had a condition called Cloaca (occurs in just 1 in 20,000) and a duplex kidney system. This resulted in her being admitted to BCH at just a few hours old. At just 1 days old she underwent surgery to create a stoma as she had been born with an open colon. She also had 2 duplex kidneys although this was not an immediate concern.

Emilia came home for the first time when she was 16 days old. She continued to be reviewed by the team at the hospital and plans were in place for further corrective surgery to take place at the end of January 2009 and from there we were looking at continued support and treatment from BCH.

Sadly, Emilia grew her angel wings on 16th January 2009 at home. A day which we will never forget and one which has touched and changed so many people since. She had tonsillitis which became infected and resulted in septicaemia taking over her little body. Within just a few hours it had taken hold and her organs failed and she died at home in my arms.

Over the years we have skydived, abseiled, bake cakes, ran 10k, collected and recycled Christmas trees, everything and anything to bring our fundraising total to date of over £90,000. Part of this money has been used to purchase 2 renal scanners which are now in place in the hospital being used on a daily basis, a hoist and many other projects have been supported through our fundraising.

Thank you to everyone for your support. If you can come to London on the 27th and cheer us on, it would be great to see you.