I’m running the Northampton Half Marathon to raise funds for Northampton Health Charity, in particular to go towards building parent rooms for Gosset Ward & a new outdoor play area for the Children's Wards to help reduce anxiety and make their stay more enjoyable and help with recovery.

Our identical twins Edward and James were born prematurely with breathing difficulties and within an hour were rushed to Gossett ward. They both stayed in the hospital for 12 days before coming home

The level of care  received whilst on Gossett was nothing short of incredible and to see how hard the nurses work 24/7 to look after your little ones is amazing. The staff were all so friendly and took great care of us too, involving us in every step of care so we still bonded with our babies

With any luck most of you will not need to experience any time on this ward, but I can’t stress enough how important these rooms will be for families who are trying to connect, build confidence with their babies having been separated from them for days/weeks, sometimes without being able to hold them while in intensive care.

After 2 weeks of being home, the boys both ended up on Paddington ward in HDU and then the main ward with bronchiolitus- with Edward being blue lighted into A&E. These were very scary times, especially with such young babies that we'd not long been able to get home. Again, we can't thank the amazing staff enough for their support and care for not only the twins but for looking after me too as I stayed with them 24/7. The play team visited every day and even if the boys didn't need anything, would check on me and helped keep my spirits up. The new play area will make such a difference to the children on those wards

So here is where I need your help; I know times are super hard for lots of people but if you can spare anything, even the amount of one coffee it would really make such a huge difference

Thanks for reading and see you at the finish line!