My daughter Sophia is the only girl in the UK with a rare form of dysplasia that affects all of her skeletal system and has sadly left her with a life time of pain and operations and also needing to use a wheelchair. 

She’s had two operations so far and both times we’ve stressed about the financial side for our hospital stays when our only worry should be Sophia. 

On both occasions, we’ve been lucky enough to have accommodation provided to us at the hospital by Ronald McDonald house charities. Neither myself or my wife Carrie would dare leave Sophia alone but it gave us the opportunity to take it in turns once a day to have a power nap, get washed and dressed and have a bite to eat over there.

We only lived an hour away from the hospital and have been very lucky to have childcare for our other children. For other families, this might not be the case. Some nights, we’ve had a hospital room to ourselves and the nurses have been happy for us to all sleep there but when on a mixed ward especially in the middle of a pandemic, only one parent can stay the night on ward. 

Without this incredible service we would easily be spending upwards of £100 a day on accommodation and convenience food and would also be stressed and exhausted which would be no benefit to Sophia what so ever. The other option would probably be sleeping in the car overnight which wouldn’t be good for anyone. 

I can’t stress enough how important this service is to not just us but 1000’s of families and this is why I’m running the 2022 Cardiff half marathon. I could thank them a million times over but sometimes actions speak louder than words and every penny raised will help go towards keeping these nationwide accommodations open.

If you could please spare a little, my family and 1000’s of others will be extremely grateful. I promise I will train harder with every donation I receive and If I reach target I will guarantee a Cardiff half marathon personal best time 👊🏻

If we can all do a little, then we really can make a big difference to so many peoples lives ❤️

If you can’t afford to donate to my fundraiser then please just consider sharing the page but more importantly, when next in McDonald’s, if you have any loose change, consider dropping it in the charity boxes or adding a little something when using the touch screens when ordering your food.

Thank you all for reading my story and for any support and donations that I receive.