Next month I will be taking part in the Great Manchester Run 2011. This is the first of many charity runs this year and next, ending with the London Marathon 2012 (hopefully!) all to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

On 23^rd February this year, our son Arran was diagnosed with a condition called Craniosynostosis. This is premature fusion of the skull plates prior to birth. Arran is nearly four years old and has had an abnormally shaped head since birth, which has become more pronounced as he has got older. Because he has not had any immediate development issues with speech and sight until now this condition was not detected by health visitors and medial practitioners and has gone untreated since birth. Following his recent requirement to wear glasses this led to further investigation and subsequent diagnosis. Single suture Craniosynostosis does cause or can lead to intracranial pressure and therefore developmental issues with speech or sight. Fortunately at the time of diagnosis, Arran did not have intracranial pressure. However, he is currently recovering from major surgery to reconstruct his skull at Great Ormond Street Hospital.  This treatment was necessary not only to treat his disfigurement but also to decrease the risk of him developing raised intracranial pressure or developing other functional related-pressure effects.

Arran is recovering well and has to have further surgery in August to remove some springs that have been inserted to continue to widen his skull over the next few weeks. Our Neurosurgeon who operated on Arran, Mr Owase Jeelani pioneered the use of the springs to create a less intrusive treatment for this condition. Even though Arran still underwent major reconstructive surgery, this was made safer by the springs designed and manufactured by Mr Jeelani at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He is the only surgeon in the world who currently uses this method. Thanks to him and Mr David Dunaway, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, our son now has a ‘normal’ round head shape that he has never had, and simple things like putting on a t-shirt, pulling up his hood on his jacket or putting on a hat are problem free as they all now fit, and more importantly the risk of Arran developing intracranial pressure in the future has dramatically been reduced!

We will be eternally grateful to Mr Jeelani and Mr Dunaway for the amazing transformation they have made and for their on-going support throughout the whole process, of which we are only part way through! As a result, not only will we continue to raise awareness of the condition to prevent this being overlooked in further children and them developing intracranial pressure but would like to give something back to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the care they gave our son.

There are so many sick children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, we were extremely fortunate to have a healthy little boy and extremely fortunate that his condition was detected before any real issues occurred, however from our experience it really opened our eyes to the children around the world who are very sick and need establishments like GOSH to provide them with short and long term treatment.

Please support our fundraising and help contribute through Just Giving (totally secure and sends your money direct to GOSH and reclaims Gift Aid on all eligible donations from UK tax payers) to the making the lives of some children around the world better, whether it buys some DVDs and toys to entertain them during their stay at GOSH or lifesaving surgical equipment that their condition would be impossible to treat without!

Thank you so much for reading our story and if you decide to donate, your valuable money too!