Support Bob’s 52 weeks of half marathons
14 December 2016
Gloucestershire’s newest member of staff is running 52 half marathons in 52 weeks, to raise funds for the hospital that saved his baby daughter's life.
Bob Smith who recently joined the coaching staff as the Strength and Conditioning Coach will cover almost 700 miles in his challenge, in aid of The Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital (BCH) Charity.
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 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 challenged himself to run 52 half marathons in 52 weeks to raise an initial target of £8,000 – the amount Autumn's treatment is estimated to have cost. After surpassing the £8,000 target, Bob has set his sights on a new target of £12,000, with that the hospital can buy a ventilator which does not require sedation of the child. This is something Autumn had to go through in November 2015.
On Friday 16th December, along with support from the Gloucestershire coaching staff and players, Bob will complete his 51st half marathon, which will end at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
If you would like to support Bob and help him achieve his £12000 target, please click here to donate to his Just Giving page. His epic challenge will see him cover almost 700 miles in total, taking in routes and races across Wales, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and Edinburgh.
The 31-year-old said: "I can't describe the gratitude and admiration I have for every person that Katie and I encountered at Bristol Children's Hospital.”
“To have the support of my new colleagues at Gloucestershire Cricket has been hugely heart warming for me.”
“Having the players involved will hopefully raise the profile of my fundraising and help me achieve my target amount, which is all for a very worthwhile cause”
