In February 2022, Tom and I lived every parents worst nightmare when our 3 year old daughter, Odette, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. What followed was 7 months as an inpatient where she bravely endured a total of 17 surgeries. 

At the time of writing this, we have our beautiful little girl at home, and this is all down to the incredible care that she received on ward E40 at Nottingham Children’s Hospital. We will never be able to find the words to express our gratitude to the Surgeons, Nurses, Doctors, rehabilitation team and wonderful play workers who brought light to the darkest of times, saved Odette’s life and supported us as a family. 

With our life returning to a new normal, we’ve started to think about how we can give something back to the amazing team that helped Odette. Unfortunately, other families will go through the horrific experience of navigating their child’s diagnosis and treatment of a brain tumour. Our aim is to raise as much money as possible in order to give the Neurosurgical/Children’s cancer care team at NCH the resources they need to help improve outcomes for a child diagnosed with a brain tumour. 

We’ve decided to follow Odette’s journey from where she was born to where she received the life saving treatment that kept her with us. This takes us from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in central London to Nottingham Children’s Hospital. Our run will total 135 miles (just over a marathon a day for 5 days) and will take place between Monday 29th May - Friday 2nd June 2023. 

This is a cause incredibly close to our hearts, and we are so grateful for your generosity. 

Tom and Sophie x