Well its the day after the big day and I'm thoroughly delighted to tell you that I did it, in fact I did it in a much better time than I had thought possible - 7 hours and 32 minutes!  It was a brilliant day and rather perversely, I did enjoy every mile.

Thank you to all of the lovely people that have supported me so far, but there is still time to sponsor me if you haven't already!

Lots of love, super-cyclist Di x

P.S. The route was not flat!!!_____________________________________________

Hello and thanks for making the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On Sunday 02 September I will be doing something that most people would say is quite foolish -  I will be cycling 100 miles!  The Manchester 100 is an organised ride around the Cheshire Plain and I hope to complete it in about 8 hours.

"Why would you want to put yourself through that?" I hear you ask whilst rolling your eyes.  Well the reason is very simple:  I would like to give something back to the Children's Heart Surgery Unit at the Leeds General Infirmary as they saved the life of my nephew, Noah.

Noah arrived on 03 April 2011 after a normal pregnancy and easy delivery.  His Mum and Dad were filled with joy as all new parents are.  But all was not as it should have been and further tests showed that the problem was more serious than everyone had imagined. 

Noah was rushed by ambulance (with the blue lights on) to the Children's Heart Surgery Unit at the LGI where he was diagnosed with coarctation of his aorta in two places and a large ventricular septal defect.  We were all frightened by the complex and alien terms used to describe the life threatening condition of what looked like a perfect baby boy.  Phil and Rach were understandably in bits; the life of their precious son hung in the balance. 

At just five days old Noah had life saving surgery to remove the narrowed section of his aorta and put a band around his pulmonary artery to restrict the flow of blood to his lungs caused by the hole in his heart, which was simply too big to mend in such a small person.

The surgeons and nurses who cared for Noah were amazing!  You expect them to be technically good at their jobs, they are world experts in their field,  but the emotional support that they gave to the whole family throughout the roller-coaster ride was exceptional.  They helped Phil and Rach understand Noah's problems, the solutions and most importantly, Noah's future.

Noah is now a healthy, happy, lively and mischievous toddler.  He is in to everything and you would never know what he had been through unless you saw his scar.  He will need further surgery before he starts school to mend the hole between his ventricles, but new equipment and pioneering surgical techniques will hopefully mean that this will not need to involve open heart surgery.

By sponsoring me and supporting the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (Registered Charity Number 700753 and 1148359) you will be helping to save the life and support the family of other children like Noah.  As a mother of two healthy boys I struggle to imagine what Phil and Rach went through, but I know the ordeal was made more bearable by the support they received and continue to receive from the hospital with funding from the Children's Heart Surgery Fund.

As part of the NHS Safe and Sustainable review into heart surgery provision in England it is likely that the unit at Leeds will cease to do major paediatric congenital heart surgery.  This will mean that the families of critically ill children will have to travel to another centre in Newcastle, Liverpool or Birmingham.  The Children's Heart Surgery Fund is fighting to overturn this insane decision and will continue to support the Unit at the LGI and the families of the poorly children of the region for whom it is a lifeline.  If you would like to support their campaign please visit http://www.chsf.org.uk/

Sponsoring my bike ride through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe and JustGiving never sell them on or send you unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.

Please dig deep and donate now to support the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and help them to achieve their aim of giving each child a childhood. 

Thank you!