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Last year David and 49 friends participated in the Blenheim Palace Triathlon in order to raise money and awareness for Thinking of Oscar. Together they raised more than £60,000. This year he is doing it again, however this time the squad will be made up of 100 participants and Hannah is joining the team too. In 2016 we are looking to raise £100,000 collectively to reach our goal of funding a new Paediatric Procedures Unit for the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and also to be able to fund other such initiatives and innovation to support children and their families whist in hospital care.

Why this is a challenge for us?

As David did his first triathlon last year this time he has set himself the target of completing the Blenheim Sprint Triathlon on June 5th and then the full Olympic Distance at the Windsor Triathlon the week after on Sunday June 12th. 

For Hannah Blenheim will be her first Triathlon so her plan is just to train to a level where she's able to enjoy the date... dusting down a bike not ridden for 10 years, sharpening up the swimming skills with some lessons and getting back out running.... this time pushing a running buggy ahead of her as Barney comes along for the ride (not on the actual day).

Why we need your support?

We are raising money for Thinking of Oscar, the charity that we founded after the sudden and unexpected death of our son Oscar in June 2014. For many months we were completely at a loss as to what had happened - he had been in hospital being treated routinely for an unusual but non life threatening infection but in the space of 24 hours his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died. We later learned that he had contracted encephalitis, a viral inflammation of the brain.

Living our life without Oscar is incredibly difficult. We take each week day by day, each day step by step. We will survive because we owe it to Holly and Barney and frankly to Oscar too but it requires a huge amount of strength to do so. There is only one problem that we cannot solve, no other problem is insurmountable, no challenge too great, no pain too acute. By putting ourselves out there and having a go at something that is outside of our original comfort zone we have the
opportunity to raise money which will make a difference to the lives of many other children.

Thinking of Oscar has the objective of improving the experiences of young children and their families whilst in hospital care. So far we have funded a set of vein finders into the John Radcliffe Children's Hospital, Oxford. Via the triathlon we will look to complete the funding of a new children's procedures unit which will mean that children who would otherwise have had to be admitted to the main hospital for procedures which are routine from a medical point of view but may not feel that way as a parent or child, will now be able to be treated within the children's hospital. The benefit of this will be that it is less stressful for the child and much more likely that the procedure takes place at the appointed time rather than being bounced by emergencies. We are also looking to fund similar projects across the UK and other new and advanced technologies which are proven to have a tangible positive impact on paediatric healthcare provision in the UK.

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