What a surprise 😳😳

So back in April, nearing the end of my midwifery degree I thought it would be an amazing idea to run the London Marathon. I had submitted the painful dissertation at this point and was very much just making up hours and catching babies. I applied as soon as the ballot was open praying among 200,000 other hopefuls that I'd be lucky enough to get it.

Fast forward to the beginning of October and this arrived in the post:

Along with a dodgy fleece that I couldn't wear but that lots of people from my OCR community raved about wearing for winter training. The fleece has been removed from my home. I don't think people could quite understand my aversion to fleece until they see my reaction, anyway I digress. I was unsuccessful in my ballot place for the London Marathon. Secretly I was quite pleased. I mean how was I, as a fatty, going to be able to run a marathon....hilarious.

Still, whilst secretly happy, I was looking through the magazine and noticed there were adverts for charity places. The one charity I wanted to run for was Sands, the only charity I could be entirely passionate about. So I emailed them. They emailed me back an application form for their much coverted gold bond places. I filled it out, emailed it back thinking there's no way I'd be that lucky (or unlucky depending on how you looked at it), to get the place. The deadline week passed by and I heard nothing from them. I was so busy squirrelling away sorting out my house and running to and from London that I kind of forgot about it.

Then I got this email:

Oh wow I'm going to start fundraising for this awesome charity. But crap....I'm going to have to start running. I can barely run 5k, how the hell am I going to run a marathon. My friends mostly laughed and asked how I was going to run it, most people think I'm mad. Many are asking how I'm going to raise £2000 for Sands. Me, I'm just going to up my training, get fundraising and hopefully enough people will feel sorry for me that I'll hit my target.

For those that do not know Sands is the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity. They fund training for healthcare professionals and student midwives. They provide support for families who have experienced a loss and they fund bereavement suites at hospitals as well as valuable research into why women lose their babies either before or shortly after birth. And although I have never personally experienced a loss. I have been with women that have lost their babies and it's utterly heartbreaking and I know people that have lost their babies. Every baby is precious and if Sands can either prevent the loss or ease the pain just a little then they've done their work. But it never stops, babies are still dying. Parents are still going home without their son or daughter. Midwives are still quietly crying about the babies that will never be, which is why the work Sands does is so important.

For more information please visit www.uk-sands.org
To sponsor me please go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ShellyLaw