I am running the ABP Humber Coastal Half Marathon for the children's heart surgery fund. They do an amazing job of raising funds for children and families for children who need life saving heart surgery. They are based in Leeds general infirmary and work along side, Leeds Congenital Heart Unit.

Adalees Story

My daughter Adalee is my inspiration for doing this half marathon and with so little time to prep. She is always referred to by medical staff and general people as a miracle baby. Adalee was born 9 weeks early and all was going well and she was soon transferred from York where she was born nearer to home to Scunthorpe when they picked up on a slight heart murmur that would be monitored as she went on. She was in Scunthorpe for a around a week and in that time she had progressed so far she was out of her incubator into a cot & off most of her monitors we where already to get her back home to Grimsby . On route to Grimsby then doctors received a result from a scan that had be done the evening before and that showed multiple issues with Adalees heart but she was completely non symptomatic. It showed holes in her heart , narrowing of her aorta and deformed valves. The doctors sat us down and said most likely we would have to prepare for the worst however there are options for surgery she was far to small to consider anything at the moment. She ended up back into her incubator and all monitors again but she wasn't phased, she was less than 2kg and we are told that her minimum weight required for and surgery would be 3kg. She kept providing everyone wrong and she kept growing and growing and coming off been tube fed on to bottle feed which they wasn't sure would happen due to her cleft lip but she kept going and mastered it. We had a few rocky moments whilst in Grimsby but I'm sure she just like to keep us on our toes. All the staff there were fantastic and in the 6 weeks we where there they just become family. As her weight was just about where it needed to be Adalee dipped and wasn't gaining as she was and generally not been herself after a few days of this test discovered that she also has a bleed on the brain which hasn't been there previously. Because of changes in herself and the latest discovery she was close enough for the Leeds team to have her shipped over for their assessments. She arrived in Leeds on evening and everyone was very welcoming by the next day they had decided her surgery was going to be first thing the following day this was to remove the narrowing of her aorta to improve the blood flow to the rest of her body. The following day we got her already to go down to theatre we got her in the gown and we walk on down to theatre with her and the team carrying out the work on her leaving her there was hard and the next few hours felt so long as you can only think how she is getting on . Around half one we got the call to say that everything had gone to plan and she was making her way on to the ward and we could meet her there this was the biggest relief. We went up and yeah she was all ventilated and there were probes and cannulas everywhere but she was okay that was the main thing. As time went on she was having a line or a monitor removed and after around 3 days she was sent down to the children's heart ward where she recovered further ready for discharge a few days later. At 65 days old we finally got to take her home for the first time. She has continued to thrive and she now has a great little personality,laugh & smile no matter what's thrown her way. She still has the brain bleed that's under investigation she still has her shones complex which is her diagnosis for all her heart issues and we recently found that her surgery will most likely need redoing in the future along with other possible heart surgeries to keep her going strong. Along with other anatomy issues we are hoping to get answers on shortly. All in all she is a whirlwind in everyway constantly removing her feeding tube to add to the list but we wouldn't change here she's the happiest miracle I've ever seen so I need to put myself through this 13 mile trail to help with with trails that she faces on a dAy to day basis . I'm such a proud dad and yours is the face I wanna see at the finish line smiling 😁. And laughing at me for only giving myself two weeks to prep myself