Doing this walk to raise money for Kings for the fantastic care they gave to Riley, this is his Dads story…

In March 2025, our world turned upside down.

We remember hearing the words no parent ever wants to hear: “His organs are shutting down.” We were told our son, Riley, needed to be put into an induced coma and urgently blue-lighted to King’s College Hospital, where they could give him the best possible chance.

We will never forget the feeling of saying goodbye to him before he left. The fear, the helplessness, and the overwhelming pain of not knowing what to say because we truly believed it might be the last time we would ever speak to him.

Riley had taken an accidental paracetamol overdose after combining it with Beechams for flu symptoms without realising it also contained paracetamol. King's staff told us it was the number 1 cause of young people coming into ICU with liver failure.

Thankfully, because of the endless care, expertise, and dedication from the incredible team at the Liver Intensive Care Unit at King’s College Hospital, he survived. After 10 days on life support, we finally heard the words we had been praying for: “We’re going to start waking him up.”

He then spent a further 6 weeks in ICU in London and 4 more weeks in ICU at the Grange Hospital in Newport.

Throughout it all, the strength and determination Riley showed was unbelievable. Watching him fight and recover was nothing short of astounding. We are endlessly proud of him.

We saw firsthand how many lives the staff at King's save and how tirelessly the staff work 24 hours a day. Without the incredible team at King's, Riley would not be here today. The Liver Unit gave him a second chance, and we will never be able to thank them enough.

On the 12th September, we're going to take on the 50k Gower Peninsula ultra challenge. The challenge is a 50k hike and 1000m elevation starting and ending at Penrice Castle.

In doing so, we hope our contribution can give just a little bit back to the hospital that made sure Riley could carry on living his life. The resources needed just to run that one ICU unit are astounding and they rely heavily on public donations.

We appreciate any support you can give. Together, we can help King's College Hospital continue to go above and beyond what the NHS can provide, from pioneering research and innovative treatments to specialist equipment, patient care and family support.

Today, we feel nothing but gratitude. Gratitude for the doctors and nurses who saved him, for the charity that supported us, and most of all for our incredible boy who fought so hard. We will forever be thankful.