Most people will know why we're here, but for those that don't - our baby boy Alfie was born was a very rare form of congenital heart defect that required major surgical intervention when he was just 10 days old. You can read Alfie's full story here: https://www.tinytickers.org/2023/01/23/truncus-arteriosus-alfies-story/

Our family was lucky. Alfie's heart defect was detected during our pregnancy. We were closely monitored, and Alfie was delivered safely into the hands of a team of experts who were able to keep him stable, operate, and support him as he recovered. He went into surgery as strong as possible - all thanks to early detection.

However, for other families, this isn't the case. One in roughly every 125 babies in the UK has a heart problem – that’s around 6,000 newborns each year. But fewer than half of those are spotted during pregnancy and, in some parts of the UK, detection rates are as low as 1 in 4. In some cases, early detection would have saved a life that was sadly lost due to CHD.

Tiny Tickers is an incredible charity working hard to increase detection rates by (amongst other things) training sonographers and placing pulse oximetry machines in maternity units, and we're committed to supporting their work. For this reason, we're taking part in the 125 Challenge this month, and will be walking 125km for this incredible cause. We'd be incredibly grateful if you're able to spare a couple of pennies to help Tiny Tickers in their mission to create world where all families get the same happy ending that we did.