Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to Family , Friends and Colleagues , I am reaching out to ask for support to raise money for the special care baby unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for SSNAP. I am running the London marathon this year and hoping to raise as much money as possible to enable them to carry out the amazing care they provide to premature and sick babies and support to there families.

Our Daughter arrived with us a lot sooner than expected at 24 weeks, weighing just 745g. She spent just over 12 weeks in hospital and became very ill, some weeks we had to take day by day to see if she would pull through and survive, she received the most amazing care and we were given support on how to deal with and cope with having a very premature baby.

We named her Nyah after not having time to think and plan names. She eventually left hospital just before her due date after she responded to treatment and was well enough to come home.

At age 2 Nyah was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy , which became another huge item to deal with and understand what her future would be like , we were told she may never walk, talk or even be able to hold a fork as this is a life long condition and time would tell how she developed.

Nyah has always been determined and with the support of her younger brother always tried to join in with everything on family holidays and never let anything stop her.

She began to walk with a Kay walker at age 3, and progressed on to walking with the use of walking sticks, and eventually can walk unaided . Her vocabulary started to develop, along with her fine motor skills after being in the care of a specialist nursery, she went on to attend main stream school.

Nyah took her GCSE,s and is now attending college studying for child care

At age 3, Nyah stared horse riding to assist with her physiotherapy and her love for horses began

She progressed to riding dressage at the national disabled horse riding championships.

She now owns her own horse called Milo, and has the most amazing bond and this fulfils her with happiness

In summary Nyah,s life will never be normal, she has achieved amazing things and will continue to do so, but if it had not been for the care of the doctors and nursing staff at the special care baby unit to keep her alive none of this would have been possible. My wife and I will never ever forget the emotional roller coaster at this time and it will never really never stop

We know times are hard, the cost of everything continues to rise, but if you can spare any money to support this amazing charity and give other families the chance to take there sick child home and try and have some sort of normality and see there child develop , every penny will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for any donations and thank you to my wife Claire who is helping me train for this wonderful event and the chance to be able to give something back

Nick

SSNAP support sick newborn, their parents and those that care for them; by providing emotional, medical, financial and informational support.

SSNAP was founded in 1982 and has supported the Newborn Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital ever since. The unit can care for up to 56 babies at any one time and is a Level 3 Centre, the most sick and premature babies from across the Thames Valley, are looked after here in Oxford.