On the 25th May 2018, we lost our beautiful daughter Mali aged just 17 months old.

On 4th January 2017, Mali had a cardiac arrest in the carpark of the RVI hospital. She was just three weeks old. She had contracted a virus that caused swelling in the brain stem, known as brain stem encephalitis.

This part of the braincontrols breathing, heart rate and blood pressure and the damage caused led to her needing a tracheostomy and long-term ventilation along with other significant problems that meant she spent the majority of her short life battling for survival.

In total, Mali spent 7 months in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and around 12 months in hospital. We received an enormous amount of support from friends and family during our time in hospital, but also from a charity called Team Evie that is now very close to our hearts.

Team Evie was set up by parents of a former PICU baby, whosadly lost her battle for life. They support 10 different wards across the North of England; providing physiotherapy equipment, sensory equipment, comfort items, libraries, TVs, mobiles etc and support.Without the support of Team Evie, our time would have been all the more difficult.

The majority of our memories with Mali are from hospital, and we will be forever grateful that there were happy memories, and special moments made possible due to items donated by Team Evie.  To help them keep up the good work, Clare, Katie, carl, Dave, Hayley, Emma, Rachel and Andy are entering the Great North Run this year.

Previously, either Adam or I have entered the event, but we’re both falling apart and our lovely friends have stepped up instead. Any donations are greatly appreciated