Dad takes on half marathon to fund charity that helps save children's lives
Javier Prado will line up at the start of the Vitality Reading Half Marathon on 19th March in honour of BIBS (Babies in Buscot Support) Charity to support their impressive annual fundraising target of £53,000, which will help fund the purchase of 13 pieces of vital equipment for the Buscot Ward at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Javier has a close connection with the charity following the traumatic birth of his daughter, Imogen, who was single-handedly delivered in his own home, with only the voice of the emergency call operator to guide him last year. After an extremley short labour, it became clear that there was no time to take his wife, Becky, to hospital and so the brave couple faced the terrifying prospect of bringing their baby into the world on their own, nine weeks premature.
The ambulance crew arrived 20 minutes after Imogen was born and whisked her straight off to the Buscot Ward of the Royal Berkshire Hospital, where she spent the next three weeks in their expert care. Javier is running his first half marathon to thank the staff, and to help future Buscot babies and their families. Becky and Javier say the care they received was second to none, commenting: “The staff were there to give us guidance and reassurance at a time when we thought things couldn't get any harder”.
Javier went on to say: “The hard work and support from the nurses, doctors and staff on the ward was priceless. This is my opportunity to say a huge thank you by raising money to enable them to purchase new equipment and provide a homely environment that parents can feel relaxed and supported in whilst their babies are being cared for. Imogen is now a happy, smiley and determined 7-month-old and we couldn’t be more grateful. “
BIBS, an Official Local Charity Partner of the Vitality Reading Half Marathon, are a small charity, run almost entirely by former parents of Buscot babies. The relationship with the event, now in its second year, will help to raise the profile of the fantastic work BIBS do and promote the race to a wider local audience.
The charity provides vital funding for life-saving equipment for the ward, offers emotional support for parents by providing a family support practitioner to visit three times a week, and pays for the improvement of family friendly facilities such as overnight accommodation.
Sarah Critchley, CEO of BIBS, comments: “10% of babies born in the local area will spend time in the care of Buscot's dedicated team of doctors and nurses due to prematurity, complications at birth or illness. We’ve been fundraising for 25 years to support this vital unit. We are a small charity run by volunteers and as such, the Reading Half Marathon is hugely important to us as it’s our biggest fundraising event by far.
“We have a wonderful team of people signed up to run the Reading Half Marathon for BIBS this year - a record breaking 64 of them so far! We are relying on their fundraising to go towards a target of £53,000, which will help fund the purchase of 13 pieces of vital equipment including incubators, cardiac monitors and ventilators. We are hugely grateful for the event which provides an excellent platform to raise awareness of our charity and raise live-saving money.”
If you’ve been touched by Javier’s story and would like to sponsor him, please take a look at his fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=JavierPrado&faId=785981&isTeam=false
To find out more information, please visit: http://www.readinghalfmarathon.com