My beautiful daughter, Emilia, was born in March with Down Syndrome. I never had the privilege of using the services provided by Down Syndrome UK, as Emilia died when she was one week old.

She was a perfect little baby and loved so, so much. Her diagnosis was sadly not picked up during my pregnancy; if it had been, Emilia may still be with us, and I might have been able to hold her in my arms rather than my heart.

I love that she had Down Syndrome as, of course, everybody with Downs is different, but a common trait of all the Downs people I've met is that they are very kind, and I like to think my daughter would have shared this with her community.

The tragedy of losing my daughter comes less than a year after I suffered an accident which landed me on the major trauma ward and put me in a wheelchair for the summer.

It happened in April last year that a skip lorry struck me when I was cycling. I was flung to the ground and the vehicle proceeded to roll over my back and rib cage. My bones shattered under the weight. My body and legs were mangled, broken and crushed.

This will be the first race I've run since my accident, and I am running it in memory of my beautiful daughter.

Please donate to support other families who are lucky to have children with Down syndrome, and hopefully raise awareness of the condition so that it's picked up during pregnancy and mothers-to-be get the care they need.

Thank you 🤍