In Autumn 2020, and at just 3 weeks old, my granddaughter, Lila, spent  the next 4 to 5 months in King's College Hospital  She underwent  many complex operations to rebuild her intestinal system that had failed and which  needed urgent restructuring from the available surviving tissue. The skill of the surgery team was amazing and in that time, she was living with the aid of tubes for her feed and with parts of her intestines still separated. Enduring so many operations plus bouts of infection in that time, Lila progressed to eventually have her intestines reconnected in early 2021. She is now a healthy girl with a lovely smile. You will therefore understand how  Lila and her the family owe a huge debt of thanks to King's College Hospital.

The forthcoming "Kilometres for King's"  event is an opportunity to create extra funding beyond whatever is possible through NHS funding.  I'm doing this by a  40 km trek across the Essex saltmarshes this September.

"Kilometres for King's" is just one event to support the King's College Hospital Charity. Below are some targets for the fund.

King's College Hospital is pioneering research on children’s liver disease and acute liver failures, but also work on respiratory medicine, gastro-related disorders, sickle cell disease and neuroscience. The £1.2m laboratories, which opened in September 2016, have been funded entirely through charitable donations. King's Paediatric Liver Centre is a national hub carrying out pioneering research and providing a highly-specialised service to children with life -threatening liver problems. It is the largest comprehensive service of its kind in the world.

Before the children’s liver unit at King's was created more than 60% of children diagnosed with liver disorders sadly died. Today, thanks in the most part to the incredible work carried out at King's, that figure is down to 6%. But there is still much more to do.

During her time in hospital, Lila's parents needed to be close at hand, not only when she was in ICU but to  regularly "re-feed" her fractured intestinal system for several months.  A parents room  was provided and proved vital not just for Lila but for the care and resilience of her parents. Funding for such is not always there from a pressured NHS budget but thanks to the King's College Hospital Charity, parents and carers of very sick children on Toni & Guy Ward  now have their own space to meet, eat, talk and unwind, thanks to a charitable grant designed to support the creation of parent and carer rooms in hospitals.

If you want to see what else is being funded by the Charity please go onto https://supportkings.org.uk/who-we-are.

I know there are so many charity events, and it is understandable that charity fatigue creeps in, but if you could please offer a small donation as I trudge through my coastal trek that would be most appreciated. 

Thank you 

Andy