Richie & I are running the Oxford Half with only 8 weeks to train. Not the smartest idea we've ever had, but it's for two fantastic charities, UK Infantile Spasms Trust & Oxford Hospitals Charity.

At 7 months old, our beautiful little boy James was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms (IS), a rare form of epilepsy that can have a serious impact on a child’s development and outlook in life. The most important thing with this condition is to get seizure control as quickly as possible to limit the damage happening in the brain.

To our great relief, his seizures stopped within 24 hours of starting treatment. His 2nd EEG on 5th May (16 days after treatment started) confirmed that his brain activity was back to normal and we cried & got very drunk!

On 3rd August, after a 3rd EEG, James was diagnosed with another type of epilepsy. While not as severe as IS, any type of epilepsy is serious for a baby because their brain is still developing. We're not seizure free yet but we're hopeful we'll get there soon.

James has been an absolute dream through all of this. He's such a happy baby! And although we don’t know what the future holds for him in terms of his mental & physical development (we have been given a wide spectrum of outcomes) we remain optimistic.

The Oxford Children’s Hospital, all the doctors & nurses, his consultant & neurology team have been amazing. They have given James the best care possible & we are endlessly grateful.

The UK Infantile Spasms Trust has been a complete lifeline. The Facebook support group has some incredibly knowledgeable people, without them this would have been a very scary and lonely journey. You can find out more about UKIST here: https://ukinfantilespasmstrust.org/

We really appreciate any donations big or small that will be split 50/50 between these two amazing charities. Thank you ❤️