Ward F11, at Southampton Hospital, is an intestinal Failure Ward designed for patients like myself, who are unable to eat orally and are TPN fed as a result.

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is a method of feeding that bypasses the gastrointestinal tract. It is a specialised fluid comprising of all the nutrients that the body needs which is then fed directly into the heart.

Ward F11 is an immaculate, sterile environment where we can be safe from any infection. It’s somewhere where many patients, like myself, are admitted when battling sepsis (a risk when having TPN), and it’s where patients who are TPN fed can be cared for by specially trained nurses.

This ward is the reason that I am alive today. They have saved my life many times and are the reason I am able to live each day as I do. They have also supported me, as well as my family and friends, through some pretty awful times. Something which I cannot thank them enough for!!

Patients who are admitted onto F11 are usually admitted for weeks, if not months. The shortest stay I’ve had on this ward has been 17 days, and the longest stay in one go has been nearly 3 months.

Being in Hospital is never an experience we hanker after, but unfortunately, being intravenously fed, you’re more likely to be admitted, for any number of reasons.

When most people are admitted to hospital, whether they’re put into a side room or in a bay on a ward, they will quite often have a beside TV. Something which provides each patient with a link to the outside world.

However, Ward F11 doesn’t have any TV’s for their patients. Something that I aim to change.

So here’s my plan...

Over the month of November I am going to run a mile for every week that I have been a patient on F11. Totalling 47 miles. In doing so I hope to raise enough money to buy the ward a few TV’s. I’d love to be able to raise enough money to by each side room a TV, but as each one costs £100, I think raising £1000 is unrealistic. So my aim is to buy the ward 3.

Running has always given me a release from the real word but unfortunately I haven’t been able to run in a few years..... therefore I feel setting myself a goal of 47 miles in four weeks is a big enough challenge .

A month ago I was readmitted onto the ward, and thanks to F11 I now have my life back. And although I’m back on TPN, it’s meant that I am back to work, I am able to do (most of) what I want to and I can live my life again. Something which I’m hugely grateful to Ward F11 for! So in a month's time I’d love to be able to say that I’ve run 47 miles in order to benefit other patients on ward F11.

I would hugely appreciate any penny you could donate so that on Christmas Day I am able to give the ward a gift which will benefit their patients for many years to come.

Every penny counts as they say... Thank You!! 👊🏻 x