Right then.…this is it. My bonkers challange is live. Well I say my, I’ve roped in my wonderful amazing husband (and our dog) in to joining me on this absolutely incredible (slightly bonkers) mission. It’s a mission to raise money for something so close to our heart that will live with us for the rest of our lives.

Last year, In July, our son suffered what is called Mastoiditis. This is where an inner ear infection goes in to the mastoid bone behind the ear. Unfortunately Dempseys had gone further, he contracted invasive Strep A (iGAS) and the infection ate through the bone and went in to his brain causing him to seizure and become non responsive. Time was ticking and we were so close to losing our little boy. It all happened so quick but the elitist of people, probably the best Drs and nurses at both Torbay and Bristol Hospital, managed to stabilise Dempsey, get him to Bristol Childrens Hospital where he had life saving brain surgery and get our little boy back home to us, and his siblings.

It was the scariest, most traumatising and terrifying, 3 weeks of our lives. The trauma is still there but the main thing is we have Dempsey, back to his bubbly, hilarious, happy little self.

To say thank you is basically impossible. There’s not a word in the dictionary that describes our feelings towards all the teams that were on shift that day, and there on after with Dempseys incredible care, even to this day. If there was I would definitely be shouting it from the rooftops.

I’ve been wracking my brain to think of doing something to do to raise money to give something back to them. We’ve done cards, chocolates and thank-yous but it doesn’t seem enough. SO, we’ve decided to do a cycle ride to raise money. Scott and I are going to cycle a route totalling 500km, 100km per day for 5 days from Torbay Hospital ending at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Starting on 24th July and ending on 28th July which is the 1 year anniversary since that awful day. All the 5’s because Dempsey was just 5 when this happened. We want to turn that awful day, in to a positive, giving something back, to the amazing people that gave us, our Dempsey back.

If you are in the position to sponsor just £1, we would be so very grateful. All the money raised will be split between both hospitals to help them out in whatever way possible and help other families have the amazing care and support that we had.

If it wasn’t for them, our little Dempsey wouldn’t be here!!

Thank you so much for reading.

Zoë & Scott xx