Hello!! I am taking on the challenge of running the 2021 Virtual London Marathon to raise money for Tiny Tickers. This will be my first marathon and I am both nervous and excited to start training and take on this challenge. 

Tiny ticker is a small charity working to improve the detection, care and treatment of babies born with congenital heart defects. The money raised will go towards providing specialist training to healthcare professionals to increase detection of heart conditions during the 20 week scan, equipping maternity wards throughout the UK with life saving equipment, such as Pulse Oximetry machines to indicate possible heart or respiratory issues quickly and effectively, and by spreading awareness of the signs and symptoms of congenital heart defects. The charity also supports families whose child has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect(s) , and works with other charities and professionals to ensure the child receives the best treatment possible. 

A baby is born with a serious heart condition every two hours in the UK.Only half of these conditions are detected during routine prenatal scanning, despite CHD accounting for around 40% of deaths associated with congenital anomalies and more than 1 in 13 infant deaths in the UK. Once heart defects are detected before or after birth, surgery survival rates are very high with 80% of babies born with a congenital heart defect surviving past 16 years old. Therefore, early diagnosis is essential to increase the quality and length of a child's life. 

Tiny tickers is a charity close to mine and my family's heart. My younger brother Thomas, who is now almost 8, was born with a coarctation of his aorta, VSD and a malformed tricuspid valve , which was undetected during the 20 weeks scan. Luckily, this was diagnosed in the first couple of days after he was born and he had life saving surgery before he was a week old. Unfortunately, not every family is as lucky and I want to raise as much as possible to help Tiny Tickers in their mission to help diagnose and treat babies born with congenital heart defects.