My son was born in the Coombe last May. The first time I saw him, he was 12-hours old and in an incubator, hooked up to more tubes and wires than I could count: what had been a very healthy and low-risk pregnancy took a sudden dark turn when his heart rate plummeted during labour and he had to be born via emergency C-section under general anaesthethic. When I woke up at 2am that night, I was told my son was undergoing cooling treatment in the NICU: he had lacked oxygen during birth and the treatment was to minimise any damage to his brain. Those are not the words a new parent expects to hear on the day their baby is born and for the days that followed, my husband and I watched and waited as the hospital team cared for our son, sending him to Crumlin hospital for further tests, filling us in with the results and his progress. Twelve long nerve-racking days later, we were finally able to go home with our son. Today, he is a healthy and thriving 7 month-old and looking at him, you would never think he had such a rocky start in life: thanks to their skills and quick-thinking, the hospital team not only saved his life that night, they also allowed him to have the quality of life he is enjoying. On April 26th, I will be running (and walking!) the TCS London Marathon MyWay in the English capital and I want to use this effort as an opportunity to fundraise for the Friends of the Coombe, to support the incredible work of the team working in the NICU at the Coombe hospital, so they can continue to support families and babies like ours in the future. I am aiming to raise 1200 euro: 100 euro for every day that my baby boy spent in the NICU. Thank you for your support!