Last September Elen and her cousin Jen ran the Cardiff Half Marathon to raise money for the NDCS after Nel and her family had received such tremendous support since her diagnosis and successful cochlear implant operation. 

Here is a little more about Nel’s story and her family’s journey so far ...

Nel was born profoundly deaf, which was a total shock to us at the time. This is when we discovered the NDCS.

Nel went on to have Cochlear Implant surgery at 14 months old. These ‘magic ears’ have given her access to sound, which still amazes us every day. Her favourite thing to do is to sing along to Frozen with her big sister Anni. She makes animal noises all day long, whilst looking at her books, or when a Cat runs past the window, and her face lights up when she hears a bird singing outside. She really is enjoying listening, and learning about new sounds. Anni and I are currently sending “Sign of the day” videos to friends and family to help everyone learn a bit of BSL during ‘lockdown’. BSL continues to be a really important part of Nels life. It is her first language. We are really fortunate to have such supportive friends and family, who have made amazing effort in learning BSL. Nel is an amazing, feisty little girl, and I know she will grow up being proud of her magic ears, just as we are so proud of her. 

Raising awareness on hearing loss, and BSL is really important to us as a family. As the leading charity for deaf children, I know that any money we raise will be of great help to the NDCS in achieving their vision of a world without barriers for every deaf child.

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We miss our families at such difficult times as these and Nel’s family and friends convened to agree that we could all use our allowance of daily exercise to both challenge ourselves, and highlight the work valuable charities are doing for families all across the UK. Bringing focus, positivity, purpose and connection back whilst we must remain apart to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Together we can run on Sunday with our immediate family able to witness the collective strength we have.

Family and Friends decided to take the chance to set and train for a distance run of their choice to take place on Sunday the 17th of May. The response was magical, training has begun and some fiercely ambitious targets have been set.

As a group we have called ourselves ‘The 1705 Alliance’ and we have pledged to cover 150 kilometres together.

Menna Edwards - 3k - Time TBC

Elen Naughton - 10k - To smash her PB time (52mins)

Martin Naughton - 5k - Time TBC

Anni Naughton - 1k - Time TBC

Gareth Edwards - 10k  - 1.5 hours

Tom Edwards - 10 k - < 1hr

Meg Stott - 5k - TBC

Rob Furlong - 25k - TBC

Jenny Weare - 1/2 Marathon - To beat her PB time (2hr 07)

Florie Weare - 4K - under 25.00

Matt Bentley - 10k - TBC

Beth Bentley - 10k - Time TBC

Wil Bentley - 5k - Time TBC

Ela Bentley - 5k TBC - Time TBC

Grace Bentley - 5k - Time TBC

Scott Culleton - 1/2 Marathon - under 3 hours

Sophie Voller - 5k - To smash her PB time

Elizabeth Hughes - 10k 

Owain Hughes - 5k 

Alys Hughes - 1k

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