This November marks 10 years since I joined Milton Keynes University Hospital and I have decided to celebrate by pushing myself to complete a half marathon in beautiful Milton Keynes on the 8th December. This is quite a challenge as I normally run around 5K once a week and a half marathon is just over 21K.

The Chaplaincy team, which I am proud to lead, does incredible work every day of the year in providing patients, families and staff with pastoral, spiritual and religious care. This compassionate care gives space to any person to process the complex emotions that life's challenges provoke. Our goal is to provide inclusive person centred care for everyone who accesses our service, whatever their beliefs or world view.

As part of this we have started to give out olive wood holding hearts. These hearts are a beautiful and tactile reminder of love and the way it shapes our lives. They fit neatly in a palm or in the pocket and might simply serve as a source of strength for someone having a challenging time, including members of staff. They are often particularly significant for someone whose loved one has died, and a heart can be placed in the hand of their loved one with another taken home as a source of comfort in grief. We also offer them to bereaved parents in this way.

We are only able to buy these hearts through generous donations to our service. We buy them in bulk for approximately £2.50 per heart. If I raise £1000 I will be able to purchase 500 hearts for us to share with those in our hospital community who need them.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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