Hi everyone, on 30th June 2024 I will be running the Derby Half Marathon to raise money for Just4Children. This is to fund therapy and equipment for Lola to give her the best chance of a happy and healthy life.

Lola’s dad, Greg, is a colleague of mine and hearing about his family’s story inspired me to commit to run in this event to try and raise as much money as possible to support Lola.

Please take the time to read Lola’s story as told by her family below. Thank you everyone for your donations!

Lola was born in November 2020 and, due to birth complications, was severely oxygen deprived and suffered from HIE which resulted in severe brain damage. Lola was put into a coma and cooled for the first 3 days of her life, and then spent 3 weeks in NICU recovering before she could come home. The first year of Lola's life was incredibly difficult. She struggled with feeding, weight gain, sleep and failed to develop. By her 1st birthday, Lola had been diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, meaning that she suffers from very stiff muscles with uncontrolled movements and it affects all 4 of her limbs.

Fast forward to now September 2023, Lola is about to turn 3 and has blossomed cognitively. She is bright, happy, cheeky and understands everything. Unfortunately, she has not made much progress with her physical development and is still not able to sit, crawl, stand, walk or talk.

As Lola's cerebral palsy is due to brain damage, the best chance of her developing is for her brain to make new pathways around the damage. We know that her brain is most able to do this in the first 5 years of her life so we are determined to do as much therapy as we can while her little brain is at its most malleable.

We are desperate to be able to provide Lola with regular therapy, such as physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, as well as equipment like a special trike, specialist seating and toys that will enable her to develop as much as she can, and enjoy life like all children should be able to.

These are things that the NHS simply can not provide and we are now down to one full time wage as Lola needs constant care so I as mum have had to give up full time work.

Please help us give Lola the best chance in life.