Our youngest daughter, Molly, was born with a hole in her heart. That in itself is fairly common, but it normally closes itself within 24 hours of birth.

Molly’s didn’t. After having been monitored for a year, it was clear that leaving the hole could have great implications later in Molly’s life and it needed to be closed. The hole was too big to be closed via a keyhole surgery, so Molly had to undergo an open front procedure.

Though there was never any immediate risk for Molly, the entire situation was extremely scary for us as parents.

But we were fortunate. We got under the care of the cardiology team at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London, and the entire process from initial monitoring to the procedure and now follow up, has been beyond amazing. And most importantly, Molly is thriving.  

We did not realize how lucky we are to have such an amazing hospital available to us before needing it. And it gets even better; it’s a public hospital, which means that this care is available to all in the UK irrespective of income and position.

GOSH delivers far beyond what is possible under a normal NHS budget (UK's public healthcare system) and this is due to private funding.

Therefore, we had no doubt that we wanted to help raising awareness and contributing to GOSH after our experience (they also know how to deal with scared parents, although the team deals with something far worse than Molly's condition all the time).

I used to run, so I thought why not start again? I signed up for London Marathon in April 2018 and will race to support GOSH. The last marathon I did was in Berlin more than 10 years ago. I finished in 2h 48mins. I most certainly won’t beat that time in London. However, those of you who know me will know that I will squeeze every single little bit out of my body to deliver my absolutely best time. With Molly's story and the need for funding at GOSH, I promise to exactly that and even a little more.

So here is the question you have guessed a long time ago if you have kept reading: will you chip in for this very worthy cause?