Sheffield Children’s Hospital prides itself on delivering the best possible care for thousands of children every week, making sure they have the best possible experience. With our help they can go even further and redevelop the environment their young patients are treated in. You can help build a better future for the up to 200 children a day who visit the Emergency Department, the 90 patients a year who are treated on the Cancer and Leukaemia Ward as well as the Major Trauma patients who arrive via helicopter when every second counts.

One particular Children's Hospital department that needs our help is The Child Development and Neurodisability Service based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre. This is where many clinics and therapy sessions are provided, though they also provide therapy at home and in schools. The Ryegate Centre sees over 5000 children with neurodevelopmental disorders every year and helps them with a range of difficulties including:

• cerebral palsy
• learning disabilities
• autism spectrum disorders
• developmental co-ordination disorder
• ADHD
• ex-preterm infants
• Down’s syndrome

Our son James benefitted from the care and expertise provided by the Ryegate Centre and their diagnosis of his Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD has been intregral to obtaining the support he needs in school. However, due to a lack of funding, it is taking longer and longer for other children with neurological disorders to be granted an appointment to be assessed, hugely slowing down the process that they must go through to get the help they need.

With this in mind a significant proportion of the funds raised will be specifically directed to the Ryegate Children's Centre as an important department of the Children's Hospital itself.

The rest of the money raised will be directed towards the main Children's Hospital Charity Fund.The Children's Hospital Charity needs to raise almost £10million by March 2023 to make these projects a reality. The less we raise together, the longer patients at Sheffield Children’s will have to wait for the environment they deserve. These projects are vital and so is our support.

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many events and fundraisers had to be cancelled during 2020 and many other will not take place in 2021 as the outlook remains so uncertain. It is therefore absolutely crucial that we continue to raise funds for the hospital in other ways. Therefore, as part of the #NHS1000miles campaign, I will be running 1000 miles in 6 months to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

This works out at around 40 miles each week which is well over double what I managed in 2020. It's going to be a huge challenge but with your support I'm sure I will manage it. My target is to smash through the 1000 mile barrier during the Round Sheffield Run on Sunday 27th June 2021.

You will be able to keep up with my progress on Strava at https://www.strava.com/athletes/3312327 and I will also be tweeting about my challenge at @RichardFyfeIFA.

We are extremely lucky to have a dedicated Children's Hospital here in Sheffield and your donations and sponsorship will genuinely be felt by the young patients that pass through its doors each day. Any donations you can make will be gratefully received by the hospital, the charity and by me.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

I really appreciate all your support and thank you for any donations.

Ric Fyfe