Just4Children are fundraising to give Izzy the therapies, treatments, equipment and surgery she needs to improve her quality and outlook in life.

Isabelle is such a happy little 1 year old from Rochester in Kent, but she has had a very tough start to life.

After surgery during pregnancy and a traumatic birth, she and her identical twin sister Daisy were born at 25 weeks gestation. Sadly, Daisy was not strong enough and passed away shortly after she was born.

For Isabelle there were many challenges ahead. At 5 days old, weighing just 720g, she was rushed to Kings College Hospital London with a perforated bowel, where she needed emergency surgery for NEC. The consultants prepared us for the worst, but against all odds she fought on.

Unfortunately, Isabelle had suffered 2 bleeds on the brain. She was on life support for the next 9 weeks and over those weeks she had further operations, suffered collapsed lungs, developed sepsis and many  infections and needed numerous blood transfusions.

Isabelle finally came home over 3months later. She was still on oxygen and taking many medicines and only signed off oxygen one year later.

Because of this difficult start and the many complications, Isabelle has now been diagnosed with Diplegic Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Lung Disease, PVL and she has global developmental delay, amongst other conditions.  This has made her development difficult compared to a typical child her age and currently she is unable to talk, sit, crawl, stand and walk.

There is hope for Isabelle. I am trying to raise money to enable her to receive the multiple therapies, treatments, equipment and surgery that she needs to improve her mobility and development.

I'm raising this money by participating in the Thames Path Challenge with 10 of my friends to run 28km. With your help we can give Isabelle the best possible start in life.