Coach Bob Smith raises £16,000 after completing 52 Half marathons in a year
13 January 2017
Gloucestershire’s newest member of staff Bob Smith, who recently joined the Club’s coaching staff as Strength and Conditioning Coach, has successfully completed 52 half marathons in 52 weeks to raise funds for the hospital that saved his baby daughter’s life.
During his challenge, Bob covered almost 700 miles in aid of the Bristol Children’s Hospital (BCH) Charity “The Grand Appeal.”
In November 2015 Bob’s four-week-old daughter Autumn was rushed to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at BCH with a life-threatening heart condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT). She was not responding to treatment and in danger of heart failure. For 48 hours Bob, and his partner Katie, waited anxiously as doctors placed Autumn under sedation, lowered her body temperature to 32 degrees and ventilated her through a tube to take the pressure off her heart.
After further intravenous medication, Autumn was gradually brought off ventilation. She was allowed home five days later, after spending time recovering on the High Dependency Unit. While Autumn will require further treatment to manage her condition, she is now a happy and healthy fourteen-month-old baby.
To thank the doctors and nurses that saved Autumn’s life, Bob decided to support The Grand Appeal with a year of fundraising. He raised an outstanding £16,000 with the help of Gift Aid who contributed to his fundraising. Bob ended up smashing his original target of £8,000.
After an incredible year of achievement. Bob said "I've been overwhelmed by the generosity of not only friends, family and colleagues, but also complete strangers who have supported me this year. The response has been fantastic and I am delighted to have raised such a massive amount of money for the Hospital."
"It's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, with fantastic highs alongside brutal lows. Katie and I remain so grateful to the Bristol Children's Hospital for what they did for our family. With Autumn now a happy and healthy toddler, I hope that the money raised will assist the hospital in providing care to many families in the future."
If you would like to add your support to Bob’s tremendous fundraising achievement, click here to make a donation.
