On 7th September myself and Joseph Gregory are cycling 113 miles in memory of Thomas Garner who fought so bravely against impossible odds and who no doubt would have wanted to thank the Doctors and Nurses at Alder Hey hospital who cared for him so well.

Dan and Emma, Thomas’ Parents, have set up a specific fund to go directly to Alder Hey’s incredible Children’s Intensive Care Unit, in Emma’s own words:

“After spending 6 months in Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool and seeing the amazing work all the staff do day and night we decided that if we could we would help.

We discovered early on that the hospital rely on a lot of donations to help it run – these donations usually go into the trust and are not always spent on the area that they were raised for.

Through talking to staff and through our own experiences with Thomas, we have found that Alder Hey are in need of resources for the intensive care unit, in particular colourful, child friendly sheets for babies, toddlers and bigger children, boys in particular. Each day and night (and where needed in between) the bedding is changed and they just don’t have enough of the colourful ones to keep it looking bright and cheerful for the children and their parents.

Nurses explained to us that they don’t always have enough colourful sheets to do the amount of changes that some children require and their budgets usually go to life saving equipment and machinery but they are in need of bright, feel good bedding and soft blankets for babies and children.

All of the money (excluding card processing fees) we raise will go directly to Alder Hey Intensive Care Unit and will be used to purchase much needed items that make the babies and children’s stay on ICU just that little more comfortable and bring a warmth and a little home comfort to a hospital bed, helping make their journey in hospital as comfy and pleasant an experience as it can be. Items that budgets may not necessarily put a lot towards. This is particularly important to us, as having spend 6 months in ICU, the small homely touches really do make a difference. Choosing a themed sheet and blanket set and helping to do the sheet changes become part of your routine and daily life. And when you’ve been there so long, they become something to look forward to. Something that you can do for your child, who otherwise is stuck in bed, attached to numerous monitors with lines going into them and wires attached to many parts of them. Thankyou for all your support in helping us reach our target. “

We want to help them get there and thought persuading you to part with your hard earned cash would be easy if we dragged our tired, early middle aged (certainly in Joe’s case), bodies 113 miles from Leasowe Castle near Dan and Emma’s childhood home on the Wirral to Harlech Castle on the Welsh coast!

Thanks in advance!

Joe and Foz