Last month marked 40 years since I had open heart surgery and received incredible care from GOSH that saved my life, and I am still thankful for this every day.

My first year of life was a tough one (more for my poor parents than me) as I was born 2 months premature, weighing just 3.5lbs and I was not thriving at all. Once I finally came home from the NICU, on the day I should have been born, the first year of my life was spent back in and out of hospital. I wasn't feeding well, I wasn't growing and developing and I was constantly ill. My heart condition had been picked up as a murmur that was not expected to cause any problems... famous last words.

Fast forward to an episode where I stopped breathing after a coughing fit, and after my Mum held me upside down and thumped my back causing me to breathe, she was once again rushing me to hospital. Here, they were told I was in heart failure and I was rushed to GOSH for further investigations. They followed the ambulance to GOSH, not knowing if I would survive the journey. I just can't imagine how awful that must have been for them, and all parents who have been through that.

They found I had a large hole between the bottom two chambers of my heart and a severe chest infection was making me ill. I was given various heart medications and sent home with a view that I would need heart surgery at some point to close the hole. After a few months of high dose medication, hard work trying to feed me and worry for my parents along with little weight gain, they did further investigations finding that the hole was now larger than expected and that I needed to stay in for surgery the following week. The doctor told my parent's how they needed to stop and open my heart to 'patch' the hole with a synthetic material and that to do this I would be put on a heart-lung bypass machine.

Full of nerves and worry my parent's spent the 4 hours of my surgery walking the length of Oxford Street and were relieved to hear that the operation went well and I was in intensive care. After the first week my recovery was rapid and I came home on various medications but I was finally eating, playing and now that my body could do something other than keeping itself alive, my hair was growing too. I came home in time for everyone to celebrate me survivng my first year of life, thanks to the incredible teams and resources that GOSH offer.

This is why I am taking part in Run 100km in February for TeamGOSH, and by sponsoring me, you’re helping to give seriously ill children, here in the UK and further, the best chance and the best childhood possible. Thank you! Katie. Xxx