In March ‘24, Lucy gave birth to our twin boys Raife & Jude. Within minutes of being born, Jude was diagnosed with a heart murmur that was later diagnosed as Biscupid Aortic Stenosis. At the time this turned our world upside down as it hadn’t been picked up during any pre-natal scans & we were incredibly worried as to what his life would look like following his diagnosis.

At 5 months old Jude underwent a successful minor heart surgery at The Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital. This will give him as long as possible to grow before he will require open heart surgery to replace the valve in his heart. How long that will be, we don’t know.

We have been in contact with TinyTickers as a charity since just before his operation. They have been a source of comfort & information for us. We’d like to give back & support the charity so that they can help many more like us & many more who haven’t been as fortunate as we have been.

Myself & Lucy intended to take part in this challenge to raise funds and awareness for TinyTickers but, after speaking to Jason, Kelly, Tash & Liam, they have generously offered to join us in solidarity, to take part in the challenge as well. We can’t thank them enough for their love and support ❤️.

Each of us will be running & walking 125km each during the month of October, averaging just over 4km per day. 125 represents 1 in 125 babies who are born with a congenital heart defect.

Below is the description from TinyTickers as to why this event is happening and what it aims to achieve 👇🏼

A baby is born with a serious heart condition every two hours in the UK and despite congenital heart disease being one of the biggest killers of infants, only around half of congenital heart defects are picked up during routine prenatal scanning.

With your help we can provide a safety net for the 1,000 babies each year that leave hospital with their heart defect undetected, increasing detection rates, improving a baby’s chances of survival and long-term quality of life.