Everyone knows about Meningitis; as a parent it's one of the first things that you fear your child getting.

The statistics of getting pneumococcal meningitis are ridiculously small; 1 in 6 million people.

You stand a better chance of winning the lottery.

My daughter, Xanthe, was 9 months old when she contracted pneumococcal meningitis. She became critically ill within 2 hours of arriving at hospital and was on life support for 10 days, during which she had a huge stroke due to the overwhelming illness. She wasn't expected to live, but she had other plans and rallied for 4 months before being discharged from hospital.

Xanthe came home a very different baby.

Xanthe is 18 now and lives with debilitating and life limiting epilepsy, hemiplegia, profound learning and physical disabilities and a PEG feed. She has had hospice care throughout her life and 24/7 care and support.

I should also say that she is a sassy, determined and tenacious young adult who is as opinionated as any other 18year old, just in a non-verbal way! She loves Charlie and Lola, pasta and the beach; she also loves McDonald’s, the swings, books and babies.

The one constant throughout her recovery has been the support of the Meningitis Now charity. They have funded equipment for her that she has needed and that we couldn't afford, and have offered us emotional support and advice whenever we have asked for it. They have been a life line.

Now its my turn to do something for this amazing charity!

I am a slightly creaky 50 year old and I work as a Senior Clinician in the NHS as well as being a carer and mum to Xanthe and her two brothers. The Marathon will be a mega challenge, but I know I will finish it. I ran one before in 1997 when I was a naïve 23 year old (as the photo shows!) and its time to dust off the trainers and do it again.

I would be really grateful for anything that you can donate which will help more families, like ours, come to terms with the ripples of this devastating illness, and enable the charity to continue to support them.

Thank you very much in advance -

Jess x

PS. I’ll be the one in the Mary Poppins outfit!