10% of everything Systems in Sport earns I will pledge to two Bristol charities that are really close to my heart.
The Grand Appeal (www.grandappeal.org.uk)
On 12 November 2015 around 11pm my 4- week old daughter Autumn was admitted to the A&E at the Bristol Children’s Hospital. Having not fed properly for 2 days she tripped into a pre-existing heart condition called Supra-Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). Without critical intervention her tiny heart beating at double it’s normal rate would continue to fatigue. She was quickly admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where she was sedated, incubated and chilled to avoid heart failure. Katie and I left the hospital at 5am, leaving her in the care of the PICU staff absolute heart broken.
Over the next few days the nurses and doctors who cared for Autumn were incredible. I was left in awe by the expertise, experience and care of everyone we met. We thought she was then sage but later learned that there was no guarantee she would have come out of SVT and it could have been fatal. We’re still so grateful to every amazing person that we met that week.
In late 2015 I was in a tailspin. I had to do something to repay the care that our family had receive. In hindsight I also had to put myself back together again as well.
In 2016 I set about trying to repay the cost of Autumn’s care to the NHS, £8000 for those 5 nights in the Winter of 2015 by running a 1/2 marathon for every week in 2016. That total would increase to over £12,000 with a further visit to the Children’s Hospital the following year.
We fundraised over £16,000 and as friends got on board with their own fundraising attempts we totalled £30,000 for The Grand Appeal.
2016 ended and so did my fundraising efforts for the Bristol Children’s Hospital. I exhausted every contact in fundraising that total but my appreciation and admiration for the hospital has never waned.
Embarking on this new adventure with Systems in Sport I want to pledge funds to the Bristol Children’s Hospital for as long as this business exists. Our family couldn’t be more grateful for the hospital’s continued support with Autumn’s condition.
Empire Fighting Chance (www.empirefightingchance.org)
I first came across EFC in 2017 when searching for local sports, health and fitness businesses local to Gloucestershire Cricket Club for cross-training through the winter months.
In those early days we accepted a non-contact boxing session down there with the players and learned more about the work they were doing.
From their website:
Empire Fighting Chance was born on Bristol’s streets to fight the impact of deprivation on the lives of young people. We use a powerful combination of non-contact boxing and intensive personal support to challenge and inspire young people to realise their unique potential.
EFC’s group of amazing coaches use boxing as a gateway to connect with young people from really difficult backgrounds including anti-social and criminal behaviour who may have experienced or been victims of abuse and neglect. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic they have been a lifeline to many young people and I can’t think of an organisation more worthy of support.
The players and I were impacted by the work that EFC were doing and some took on some mentorship work with their young people in a project that turned out to be transformative, not only for the youngsters but for our players as well.
I’ve long had a desire to do more for the charity, in any way I can. Over the years I’ve done bits and bats but I’d like to make a more consistent pledge and commitment to the charity alongside the children’s hospital.