Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page for the 2022 London Marathon, which I am running for the 7th time in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (not in the Bernard the Bear costume this time, I hasten to add!). The Emily Grote TeamGosh fund now stands at over £123,000 thanks to the enormous generosity of so many supporters since my first marathon in 2015 (see www.justgiving.com/teams/emilygrote)

Many of you reading this will now be familiar with some of Emily's story, as friends and family, and as those who have so generously donated in the past. 

In June 2014 at the age of 3, Emily was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumour - a craniopharygioma - and immediately underwent surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Since that time, she has had six major neurosurgery operations as well as a course of proton beam therapy radiation treatment in Jacksonville, Florida. 

In the summer of 2021, she had a major operation to try to resect the tumour after it had regrown, making her increasingly unwell. Tragically the surgery resulted in complete and permanent sight loss and, over the past 12 months, Emily has been learning to exist with no eyesight, brilliantly supported by her visual impairment teacher, her mobility officer, her teaching assistant and wonderful staff at Streatham and Clapham Prep School.

After initially promising results, the tumour has regrown yet again and Emily is now facing further major surgery in September 2022 after other unsuccessful drug treatments earlier this year. 

The impact of this terrible illness on Emily's young life has of course been colossal. Not only has she lost her eyesight, but also much of her hormonal function, which necessitates a complex daily regime of medication to keep her alive. She has problems with fluid balance, with weight gain and, most problematically, extreme fatigue which has made it impossible for her to live a normal life at school or home for a long time. 

All through these challenges over the past 8 years, the medical team, nursing staff, play workers and volunteers at GOSH have been there by Emily's side and to support our whole family. It continues to be a great privilege to be in the care of some of the world's leading paediatricians and is humbling to be looked after by nursing staff on Koala and Squirrel wards who are constantly going the extra mile. Raising some money each year for GOSH through the London Marathon is just one small way of expressing our collective gratitude to them all.

THANK YOU to all those who have donated so generously over the years, and to all those of you who are able to support me again. 

If you would like to know more, or be in touch personally, please feel free to contact me via email at ashleygrote@cantab.net

With best wishes, 

Ashley Grote & family