Exciting News ...I Think!!!

So I have lots to tell you...

I'll start with my trip to London yesterday to hand over our cheque for the money raised at Alexander's Charity Ball 2014.  I went with Louise Barrett who also does great work for The Lullaby Trust as Ian was unable to take the time off from work but also because Louise and I have been working together to see how we can help each other with our events and goals.

Myself and Francine have spoken about where the money was best used and yesterday was an opportunity to chat to all the departments within the Charity to see how these changes could be implemented.

Like anything there are always improvements to be made and it's brilliant the way the team is so focused on making it right and they are open and enthusiastic about listening to parents like us as well.  I have to say that it would appear we are all thinking along the same lines anyway but that the main issue for the charity is money.  They have to choose wisely where to spend their hard worked for cash and they can't just go ahead and implement everything they want too as it costs!

The £27,203 that was raised with your help is going to help with numerous projects that the charity and I feel are the most important and once we have more of an idea how these will work I will tell you more.

Onto me and my big mouth!!! 

September 2015 will be Harrison and Alexander's 10th birthday, double figures and a milestone as far as I'm concerned and so for a while I've been thinking of ways to mark the occasion, by stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something I wouldn't normally do!  Anyone that knows me well or otherwise knows I hate running but as the Great North Run falls within September what better way to celebrate the life of my boys than running the most iconic Half Marathon there is!  

Sounds simple enough yes?  No! This is me we're talking about and so just doing the GNR wasn't enough, I wanted a memorable challenge and so the idea of ''10 fundraisers for 10 years was born''.  Over the year from September 2014 to September 2015 I will complete 10 fundraisers (not necessarily sports based) to raise money for The Lullaby Trust, these will include Alexander's Charity Ball 2015 and a bigger 'northern' Mile In Memory plus a list of various other fundraisers that have yet to be decided on.

Also sounds simple enough? Here's the catch ...

Alexander was 17 months old when he died, the usual Safe Sleep messages and most of the preventative measures for SIDS didn't apply to him and as it stands we are no further forward to knowing why he died than we were 7 years ago.  
Increasingly there are families of older babies who have died suddenly and unexpectedly contacting the charity for help and so far other than supporting the families there is no further information they can give.  Until now. There is research waiting to happen by one of the country's leading paediatric pathologists at Great Ormond Street Hospital into Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) but he needs funding.  

£100,000 worth of funding

I want to do my damnedest to get Professor Sabire this money to get this research from proposal stage into action... I want to raise £100,000

I know I can't do this alone and it is going to be a mountain of work but I am so incredibly excited by this research and the goal is just too tangible not to try.  I'm not expecting miracles or answers but just the knowledge that there is someone looking at these deaths means Alexander didn't die in vain.

I need your help in whichever way you think you can help so watch this space for further details on the crazy madcap scheme and help me raise £100k in 1 year.  Please share this post as much as you can we need to reach far and wide this time and hopefully the more you share the more people would be willing to help.

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