On the 22nd of October 2019 my goddaughter Sadie and her twin sister Mair were born after a 26 week pregnancy (to put into context, a baby is only considered "viable" after 24 weeks) and weighed less than 1 kilogram each.  They began a real struggle to survive and spent the first months of their lives in an intensive care unit with 24 hour supervision from the nurses on the neonatal unit at the St George's hospital in Tooting.

Through this time Ben and Ni (Sadie and Mair's parents) spent every day in the hospital, unable to hold or touch their children, while the nurses worked tirelessly to keep the twins alive and slowly Sadie and Mair started to get stronger and were hooked up to fewer and fewer machines. Mair was released first, in January 2020 after 4 months of intensive care and then Sadie followed in May, after 6 months on the hospital ward.  These two owe their lives to the work that the team at St George's do and because of that I want to help to raise money to continue to fund the extraordinary work that the nurses and charity do everyday.

Both Sadie and Mair celebrate their first birthdays this month, a day that sometimes looked like it would never come; they are both doing amazingly well and are two of the most beautiful little things I have ever seen in my life.   

I want to make sure that more cases like Sadie and Mair have a happy ending so in March 2021 I am running a marathon over the Seven Sisters in sussex (information can be found here: https://www.endurancelife.com/sussex)  in the hope that you sponsor me to raise money for such a brilliant charity and to ensure they have the much needed funds to keep helping to save lives.

I've also created a playlist for when I am training and running on the day, it would be amazing if you could add a few songs in to help me on my way: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/65EfgFIktV1uRVc1Rg0pcT?si=IeL1wkuaTwGn1m5EPlb5WQ

More information on the First Touch charity can be found here: https://www.first-touch.org.uk/ but there is also a short blurb on them below:

First Touch is the dedicated charity of St George's neonatal unit and we work hard to provide medical equipment, staff training and family support to ensure each baby has the best possible outcome.The current COVID-19 crisis will present many extra practical and emotional challenges for the babies' families and our amazing staff.We are currently working to ensure families are provided with food, accommodation, and other practical help during these uncertain months as St George's Hospital staff fight the corona virus. We would also like to provide snacks, hot food and drinks for the frontline nurses and doctors who staff the neonatal unit 24 hours each day, and for whom getting to the shops is difficult. Please help us by making a donation through this page and sharing it with your friends and family.