Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Thank you for visiting this page where you can sponsor me to take part in the London Marathon on 26th April 2015. Everyone knows that before I got the letter to say I had a place in the Marathon I literally could not run to the end of the street so this is a massive challenge I am taking on. So I am starting from being a total Non Runner and now have been running in the wind, rain and even snow. I am doing this for one reason and that is the word Thank you really is not enough, I need to really say a huge thank you!!!

That thank you is to St George’s Hospital Neo-Natal Unit, the amazing staff and equipment there saved our sons life and we will be forever grateful to them, so for that reason I have chosen to raise money for First Touch which is their registered Charity. The Charity helps to provide much needed equipment on the unit and also help provide support to parents at such a scary and emotional time. They also help to provide things such as a Christmas present for the babies, which is something to help you cope with your tiny baby spending their 1stChristmas in an incubator – Something we know all about.

When I discovered I was pregnant, we could not have been happier, never in the world was any of us prepared for the events that we had to cope with. Our baby was due on 3rdFebruary 2004, however when i was 27 weeks pregnant I began to experience Labour pains, very scared we rushed to Crawley Hospital where the pains stopped but we were told our baby had Cancer and had no Stomach. Words cannot describe how we felt. The very next day we were sent to St Georges Hospital in Tooting, London and were told that our baby did have a stomach but also a large tumour on his Kidney. We spent the next 5 weeks either hospitalised at St Georges or Travelling up every few days for tests, scans and to have litres of fluid drained from me.

The tumour was growing faster than our tiny baby and we were told that he was not going to survive and there was little they could do to save him. We were heartbroken and determined to fight on. All the while his little heart was beating there was hope.

On 3rd December 2003 it was noticed that Josephs little heart was in trouble and he was having heart attacks. We were rushed down for emergency C Section. There were people everywhere.

Joseph was born and not a sound. I couldn’t see what was happening but Lee could see Doctors and Nurses in the Corner with Joseph trying to revive him. Then we heard a little noise which lit up the whole room. The Doctor came over and showed us our Baby he was so small but amazing. With his little Blue Hat on to keep his head warm. He was so small and weighed 3.5 pounds but most of that was his Tumour. Then he was taken from me after a few seconds. The amazing doctors cared for my little baby. Lee sat next to his incubator and kept coming to tell me how he was doing. Wewere told he may not survive the night. The first night he had a full blood transfusion. Then the next day 24 hrs later I got to see my little baby boy again. He was so frail and tiny. When people say Joseph is a lively boy they don’t realise that’s the reason he is with us today. It’s because he has so much energy in him to live life.

After 48 hrs we were told that they were going to operate to remove the Tumour. There was so much strain on his heart they didn’t think he could take any more. His internal organs were being crushed as the Tumour carried on growing.

I could not sign the papers to give permission for this to take place. Lee signed and we sat there with Joseph until he was wheeled away. We sat in a room with my Mum and Dad and Lee’s Grandparents who sadly are not with us now. We all waited. It was the longest 2 and half hours of our lives. In walked the Surgeon Mr Holmes (My Hero) he came in and smiled and said it was tricky operation and he has removed the tumour and Joseph will be ok.

Words can’t explain how we felt. So now Joseph Declan George Gilroy was fighting back. He now weighed 1.5 pounds just less than a bag of sugar. He was a little fighter, a miracle and now he had to prove it and fight on and he just did that.

Within days he was pulling off all his sensors and setting off alarms and making a right fuss. Feeding him 1 ml at a time it was a long road ahead. He slowly got stronger and grew and grew. We spent every possible moment at the hospital with him. Changing the nappies on a 1.5 baby in and incubator was a real test of skill. We witnessed so much life and death in the Neo-Natal Unit and we are so lucky to have been able to bring Joseph home with us.

He spent 7 weeks in Hospital and came home with us weighing 4lbs and being able to take his bottle without being tube fed. Sorry if this is a long story but it has been cut short a lot really! So today we have a boy who battled hard to be here and he enjoys his life to the full with Scouts, Kung Fu and of Course his Play Station.

We want to thank the people that gave us the best gift in the world they helped me to be a Mummy.

Please donate anything you can. It will be gratefully accepted, so I can help people who have a baby born so early and so sick that there just seems no hope, but the Neo- Natal Unit at St Georges is the most amazing place and I just want to say THANKYOU !!!