What our runners said…

 

Debbie Alkadhim

“I have been involved in lots of charities in my life time but this is first time I have ever done a run or anything physical shall I say?  As I work closely with the Children’s Heart Federation I decided to give it a go.  

I wasn’t sure if I could do it but to my surprise it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.   It was such an achievement and the money raised for the charity made me so happy to think that it will make a difference to a child!  It was a pleasure to do this for this charity and I would do it all over again and again.  In fact I am doing the Santa 10K on 9th December 2012.  I hope to see a few familiar and new faces joining me. Thanks for the opportunity CHF!”

 

Robert Ginsberg

“I decided to enter the British 10km and raise money for CHFED for a number of reasons:

1)       I thought I would be picked for the GB Olympics team… but I woke up from my dream and decided I need to get my own medal this Summer!

2)       I decided to raise money for CHF as my son Oliver was born with a VSD which went undetected until he was 5 weeks. He couldn’t feed and didn’t seem to be putting on weight and it was a difficult first few weeks. He had a four hour open heart surgery at 13 weeks which was tough for him, my wife and me. The whole period was also difficult on our older daughter who had just turned 2 and found it hard that she not only had a new sibling but mummy and daddy never seemed to be there anymore.

We realised whilst we were at the hospital that we were actually very lucky. The problem Oliver had was actually fairly simple to fix compared to many other children we saw. I wanted to raise money for CHF to support the great work they do helping parents and children. We did not know about CHF at the time and it would have been really useful to have the support of an organisation like this. Oli is now two and a half and thankfully is a very active toddler who enjoys everything he does. I hope the money I raised helps other children enjoy their lives to the full despite the heart problems they might have.”

 

Tracy Harris

“I ran my first 10k on Easter Sunday 2012 and loved every minute of it, and so was looking to run again when I saw on Facebook that CHF were looking for runners to run for them for the London British 10k. 

My daughter was diagnosed at 6 weeks with an ASD and a VSD and at 5 and a half months underwent heart surgery to close them. So, running and raising money for CHF meant a lot to me personally! My daughter is now a bubbly, healthy 3 year old, so I really want to give something back to those that helped me and my family through a very traumatic time.

On a very wet Sunday in July, 25,000 other runners and I ran the London 10k. I loved every minute of it as London is one of my favourite cities.  With a great CHF support team and my husband there to cheer me on, I even took 2 minutes off my personal best 10K time. Looking forward to running it again next year!”

 

Emma Collins

“I chose to fundraise for CHF because of the support they give to the often-neglected age group of ‘young people’. Brighthearts aside, CHF also give valuable support to families with newly-diagnosed children, which is something not only vital in terms of parents understanding their child’s condition, but also gives them the opportunity to contact other parents in the same or similar situations. It always helps to know that you’re not alone, and CHF does that.

The run itself was an interesting experience. Having not trained as much as I should have, I knew that I would struggle! But I had set myself a target of under 2 hours, and I was amazed when I emerged exhausted over the finish line, a mere 1h 40mins later! Despite the pain, I would love to do it again, and hope that there will be a chance next year.”

 

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