Taking Great Strides together for their tomorrow’s.

I am fortunate to have loads of truly amazing friends and friendships that I would be completely lost without.

I have people in my life that have done the most random acts of kindness for me, including breaking me out of hospital in my pyjamas to drive me to Birmingham to be with my baby following his transfer to the Children’s Hospital.

I will always be so humbled and grateful for those who have supported me and stood by me and my family following the CF diagnosis.

After Chester’s diagnosis I also turned to other CF parents for support, they were the ones who had been in the same situation, who had probably all felt what I was feeling and if not had certainly been feeling something very similar and they were the ones that I hoped could guide me in the right direction with everything that was being thrown at me.

I initially joined a few support groups but soon left after finding some of them were not quite as friendly as I hoped. However; I did remain with one small group and for the past two years there has been a small group of us who have probably spoken almost every day since we met online.

These ladies have been there with me through every admission, every pseudomonas cough swab, every moment of guilt and every time I was feeling complete hopelessness. They have offered words of support and wisdom and in the time I have known them there has never been a time that they weren’t on hand when I needed them.

They got me through days where I was feeling down and depressed, when I was overwhelmed with guilt and anger, even when they themselves were possibly also dealing with similar feelings of their own. Always on hand to offer advice and kind words and never ever criticising.

Along with my friends and family, these ladies have been the ones to get me through some of the toughest moments of my life. I class them as my second family, my CF family.

So today is the day, after two years of talking everyday, of sharing our worries, of laughing together, I will actually be meeting these wonderful ladies and together we will be taking on a challenge that is definitely one of the most challenging things I have taken on so far.

Saturday will see us lace up our walking boots and take on the Great Strides South, where we will be covering 65km of the South Downs countryside on foot in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and all in the hope of finding a cure for our beautiful babies.

We have spent months fundraising and having smashed the initial target fairly early, we raised the target and today our total so far sits at a whopping £14,836 Which is just incredible!

Right now I need to say this; Ladies you have been my inspiration, my backbone holding me up, you have been there at the toughest of times and you are my best friends. I cannot wait to finally meet you.

Emma, so very sorry you can’t join us and that I won’t get to meet you yet, but know that every step we take on Saturday we will take for you and Harriet too.