As many of you know, during the Sydney Olympics 10 years ago, our daughter Phoebe was born over three months premature, weighing just 1.03kg.

Unable to breathe by herself at birth, Phoebe spent 102 days in the care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick, before finally coming home in early 2001.

Today Phoebe is a normal, healthy 10-year-old who long ago left behind any notion of 'corrected age'.

Our whole family will always be incredibly grateful for the care Phoebe received over the three months we practically lived at the hospital. We will never take her health for granted, well aware that many babies in her situation don't fare so well.

Below you can see some photos of the journey we took over that period and the amazing young woman that Pheobe is well on the way to becoming.

The NIC Unit at the Royal Hospital for Women performs miracles like this every day.

In November this year, I will be running the New York Marathon, and I'd like you to help me give something back to an extraordinary institution for all the other babies that are in just too much of a hurry.

Whether it is a little, or a lot, a pledge or a straight donation it is greatly appreciated.

Click the DONATE NOW link below to make a tax deductible donation - you will recieve an email receipt - or read the first post to see how to make a pledge and help me run faster.

Thank you all in advance. I will keep you updated on my progess in New York on this blog as much as possible.





07 November 2010

Marathon Man

In twelve hours I will be about to get off a Staten Island ferry at Staten Island. It will be 2 degrees and there will be thousands of runners packed onto the ferry with me.

Today Tiff and I ran the "International Friendship Run" - or rather walked because Tiff doesn't run. Four K's from the UN into Central Park. Apparently runners make trekkies look cool. Thousands of runners dressed up in their national dress, all looking a bit ... very ... nerdy. Then again cool people don't get up at 4am in arcrtic weather conditions and run until it does permanent damage and call it fun.

My favourites were the English girls who are walking the marathon dressed only in their bras to raise money for breast cancer. They are all a bit overweight and their bras are emblazoned with the Union Jack. Some are wearing angel wings. I'm not sure why. They like to sing quite a lot.

I am dreadfully nervous and excited about tomorrow. There is nothing quite like the marathon. It doesn't matter whether you are an elite runner, or a beginner, it pushes you in ways that are unpredictable. The only certainty is pain.

I will blog in 24 hours with news.
Posted by The Runner at 8:47 AM

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMay 9, 2011 at 8:05 PM

    Yeah, there is a lot of that bra angel wing clique at runs here - I have no idea why. Nothing would get me out in my bra in public.

    ReplyDelete

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