As a surprise for my 40th Birthday, my wife Emma, secured me a place with Shooting Star Children's Hospices to run the London Marathon in April 2025. Emma has worked for the charity in a fundraising role for 10+ years and I've had the privilege of volunteering at many of their events.

For months I have been scrolling the internet for a big challenge for my 40th year and after I failed to secure a place in the public ballot, she couldn't resist signing me up to one of their charity places at work.

It will be 12 years to the month that I ran the Paris Marathon, but this time I'll be juggling the training around a demanding job and the logistics of a young family.

Thank you to those that donated ahead of my birthday gathering, it means a lot to me and is a great start towards my £3,000 target.

Em and I plan to organise some fundraising activities along the way, but if you've landed on this page, please do give what you can, the cost of coffee or pint or two of BrewDog would help me get a step closer to my target.

For those that don't know about Shooting Star Children's Hospices, you can find out more below:

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or who have been bereaved.

They support families living across Surrey, south-west London and north-west London.

Their specialist care and support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It includes specialist nursing in the community, symptom management and pain relief, overnight respite stays, end of life care, specialist bereavement care and a comprehensive range of therapies, groups and clinics for the whole family.

They support around 800 families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or whose child has died. Including life-limited children, their siblings, parents and grandparents, and those that are bereaved, we currently support over 2,000 people.

It costs £10 million a year (£29,000 a day!) to run Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, so they rely on the generosity of their supporters to keep the vital care service running.

Just 26% of their funding comes from the government. This means for every pound the government gives them, they have to raise three!

Your donation ensures they can provide the best care and support possible to families with a life-limited child or whose child has died.

www.shootingstar.org.uk

Thank you, Terry