In November 2024, good friends of mine received news about their son, Elliot that no parent wants to hear. He had been experiencing very painful headaches and after numerous hospital visits travelling from the South Coast to Kings College Hospital, London, he was soon diagnosed with AVM – Arteriovenous malformation – a tangle of blood vessels which creates irregular connections between the arteries and veins and can reduce oxygen flow to tissues. If they burst, they can cause bleeding, lead to a stroke or brain damage. His AVM was in the brain. He was 16 years old at the time of this diagnosis.

After 8 agonising months of various visits to Kings College Hospital, he underwent a successful 13-hour brain surgery in June last year (in the middle of his GCSE's) and there is now no sign of the AVM. The team at Kings College Hospital did an amazing job before, during and after his operation and for that we are all truly grateful and Elliot has since passed his GSCE’s last August with flying colours.

Since Elliot's successful operation, Elliot's mum, Kirsty and I decided we would run a 10k and a half marathon to help raise vital funds for Kings College Hospital Charity and in particular the Paediatric, Teen and Adolescent Neurosurgery Wards where Elliot was looked after and cared for by their amazing team.

I'd like to thank all of those who have sponsored me already and helped me exceed my target - it's such an amazing achievement and I'm very grateful to all of those who have sponsored me and shared my page. For anyone who would still like to sponsor me, or share my story/page with your friends and family - wouldn't it be great if we could raise more money together.

King’s is one of the UK's top teaching hospitals and is so because of the generous donations people and organisations make to help improve their facilities, services, improving patient care through research and advancing medical developments.

Thank you for helping me fundraise.

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