This page was originally created for the London 2023 Marathon - but we have decided to alter the page so that it can include all of our fundraising efforts for this amazing charity! We hope to set ourselves all sorts of new challenges in the near future and would love it if you could support us along the way. Sam and Syd x

On the 11th of November 2022, our amazing son, Rudy was born. Before we could leave the hospital Rudy was diagnosed with a heart murmur, so we were booked in for a weeks time at the Evelina hospital for what we thought was going to be a fairly routine check up, to be on the safe side. 

Unfortunately that wasn't the case and that day we were asked to stay in with Rudy, so that they could carry out further tests and monitor him. Just over a week went by in a blur, where rudy eventually underwent heart surgery, to repair a narrow aortic valve. It was an utterly traumatising time for both me, my wife and our families. You never expect to have to give your two week old baby to heart surgeons, visit him in ICU and spend days by his bedside in the ward but that was the reality we were faced with. 

The only thing that made that time slightly bearable was the amazing staff at Evelina. From our extremely knowledgeable consultant, the talented surgeon and the amazing nurses that looked after not only rudy, but me and Syd as well. Every day we were simply blown away by their vast knowledge, quick action and beside manner, although it was scary we were thoroughly looked after and we knew rudy was in the best hands. The journey isn't over, rudy requires monitoring by the evelina until such a time that he is old enough to transfer to guys and St Thomas adult services, but we know that every visit to the hospital will be made more bearable by the team that they have there, we are so lucky. 

Every year more than 103,000 children and young people experience the wonderful warmth of Evelina London, which is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. They see first-hand the care and passion of the Evelina London team who are exploring new approaches and creating ground-breaking care for children and young people.To give you an idea of the impact of your donation:£10 could help put a childs mind at ease with imaginative toys, books and games that explain what happens in hospital£100 could help the team put together amazing rucksacks full of distraction toys for every ward and department£350 could buy even more DVD players with headphones and give every child the chance to escape into their favourite filmThank you so much for your support!