Recently my brother and sister in law had their first baby, Noah George Hamlet rather earlier than expected, in fact 13 weeks early. He scarily arrived at just 27 weeks, weighing 2lb 4oz (a bag of sugar!) and was the size of my hand. He was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Jimmys in Leeds, over an hour away from home, for 6 weeks. Nicola stayed with him all of that time and Chad managed to work and each evening travelled to be by her side. They were then transferred closer to home to a special care unit for the remainder of his hospital stay. They have been incredibly strong throughout Noah's emotional roller coaster journey, finally getting him home after 3 months. This stay at home lasted 4 days when Noah arrested whilst being fed and his Dad had to give him CPR saving his life whilst Nicola called for the ambulance. Noah then had a further 3 eventful months in hospital but is thankfully now home, still with extra support however is doing really well. It has been essential for them to have the help and support of Bliss, the special care baby charity.

I am attempting to complete the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco on Sunday 10th June 2012. This is a mile and a half swim from Alcatraz Island to the shore through 6 degree water, with a few little sharks. I am then going to do a 18 mile bike ride and a 8 mile run through the Golden Gate Recreation Ground. Having never done anything like this, it will certainly be a challenge and if I and my friends could raise some money for Bliss, I would be very happy.

Please donate to this worthy cause.