Helen Keith

I’m joining the race to help raise money for GOSH by taking part in RBC Race for the Kids

I’m taking part in GOSH Charity’s family festival and fun run, RBC Race for the Kids, to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital and to help build the new Children’s Cancer Centre.

It has been five years since we last took part in the RBC Race for the Kids at Hyde Park and this year we have even more to thank GOSH for. Our son, Charlie, underwent two major operations at GOSH last year, one in May and then another in December. Just before Christmas, we found out that Charlie was seriously ill, that his heart function was deteriorating and his heart would soon fail. His consultant told us his Pulmonary Valve was tightening and he needed a new valve inserted. This was a risky operation, never performed before in a patient with Pulmonary Hypertension and a Potts Shunt. Thankfully, the procedure was a success, all thanks to the care of Charlie's PH team and the wonderful surgical team. We want to raise as much money as we can to enable GOSH to save more lives. The money we raise will also go towards building the new Children's Cancer Centre at GOSH. We know firsthand how cancer can affect children's lives, after our youngest daughter, Olivia, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in April 2019.  

Living with cancer is different for every child. It can mean countless rounds of debilitating treatment. Seeing your siblings through the windows of an isolation room. Not knowing when you’ll sleep in your own bed again. It can mean missing out on parties and playdates and trips to the park. It can mean missing the moments that make up a childhood.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) already cares for children with the hardest to treat cancers. Pioneering research is underway to find the most effective treatments and cures, which give hope to children and their families. 

But the rapidly changing pace of cancer medicine has outstripped GOSH’s existing cancer facilities., and the hospital needs a new home to help deliver breakthrough therapies. Somewhere that will treat the child, not just their disease. 

That home will be the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH.

The funds raised from RBC Race for the Kids will help build a world-class facility with children at its heart. 

Please sponsor us to take on 5k for GOSH Charity.