Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As most of you will know, Lee and I have a daughter the beautiful India (yes that's her proper name I think I've called her it about five times ha! Most know her as Pindy :)) who was born almost nine months ago with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus - something we didn't know much about until we were forced to learn fast.

June 6th 2011 - We were told when I was 21 weeks pregnant that she had this condition following the routine scan and the initial prognosis was not good at all, our consultant told us to consider a temination as our daughter would have very poor quality of life most likely. We were heartbroken as our little girl was wanted so much and we loved her more than anything already so for someone to tell us to consider ending her life before it had begun was almost too painful to handle. The next few weeks were the worst of our lives but I won't go into every detail thanks to friends and family who were amazing during that hard time - need less to say - we were not going to give up on our beautiful baby - she was already India she already had a lovely little nursery, little ugg boots, a pink olympics tracksuit, she was kicking around inside me and she was the most important thing that had ever happened to me and she was ours. We contacted SHINE charity for help and info, we did our research on the internet - thank whoever invented the internet - and we found that in actual fact babies born with Spina Bifida and hydro were just like any other baby - they may face physical challenges, some more severe than others, they may have a few developmental issues but they may not NO ONE knows for sure!!! We spoke to an amazing lady via facebook - Loretta - hope you don't mind me mentioning you! She had at the time a three month old baby girl with Spina Bifida who is the most beautiful little lady - and she helped us see that India too would be a gorgeous happy, bright little person.......fast forward a few months and India arrived on 8th October 2011 - nine days early! here she was finally our teeny little princess! After a two and a half week stint in hospital we finally took her home and were a proper little family at last! She has amazed us all beyond belief in her short life so far, not only is she the most adorable little cuddly person ever, she is so brave and bright and strong and happy despite having had five major ops in less than nine months - more than most people in their lives! Developmentally she's hit all her milestones so far apart from the physical stuff - the little legs need a bit of work to get stronger but legs are overated anyhow :) She makes us so proud everyday and she is loved beyond belief. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her she has so many loving, supportive family and friends who all adore her - her adoring fanclub - ha. I've put some pictures on here of her to show off but I'm sure anyone who's friends with me on Facebook will feel like they get a constant stream of Pindy photos (sorry!). She's too gorge not to share though.

Pindy also has an Aunty, Nicola Sargent, who was Lee, Kelly and Jason's sister and Brenda and Terry's daughter, born 37 years ago with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, she sadly became an angel aged 4 months. This run is also for Nicola, who we like to think is watching little India as she grows- and some characteristics of Nicola we can see in pindy, like her teeny button nose which was a mystery until we found some pics of her and compared them!

Anyway, I'll stop now before I get kicked off for too much wording! Please give what you can to this fantastic charity, thanks very much xxx PS. I know it's not as exciting as Lee, Jason and Tim's totally naked bike ride but I aint getting naked in the middle of newcastle. It's cold oop north ha!