In 2021, at the age of 15, I suffered from a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung) caused by pulmonary blebs which burst and are very rare, leaving me, my family and my friends in total shock. I underwent 3 emergency surgeries where I had part of my lung removed leaving me bed bound for months in recovery. This caused a lot of distress for my family and close friends but the Sheffield children’s hospital were constantly there supporting us. Everybody at the hospital remained positive even through the toughest days and encourage us to believe I was going to get better even though at the time it felt nearly impossible.

I was a national gold medalist for swimming and generally a healthy teenager. This left me unable to properly recover and was never fully able to get back into swimming as I would fall ill so often. This month I have had to make the decision to retire from my swimming career which was advised by many doctors due to my underlying health conditions. It was a very hard goodbye. Since the decision was made, I decided to shift my focus to running as I will be taking part in the Sheffield half marathon, April 7th 2024 with the support of some friends who will also be running with me.

My motivations for doing this is for the doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and everyone who helped me and my family during the uncertain and tough times as I would like to give back as much as I can. By donating to this charity, you will be helping many other families like mine receive the best care and support they need for these hard times.