Thanks for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page.

This is Myles's story............

When Myles was born he had a rare condition called Craniosynostosis. This means that part of Myles's skull was fused together and he needed an operation. His skull was fused at the back which meant his brain couldn't grow where it was supposed to and it started pushing against his forehead making it more prominent. 

When he was 4 months old Myles had an operation at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. 2 springs were put into his skull which gradually opened up and made more space for his brain to grow properly. When Myles was 8 months old he had another operation to take the springs back out again.

At 9 months old, we made the decision to have Myles fitted with a special helmet. Unfortunately they are not available on the NHS as there is no evidence in the UK to prove that the helmet will make a difference. The helmet was supposed to help mould the shape of Myles's head but there were no guarantees that this would work. As far as we were concerned, we could not put a price on Myles's head and if it meant there was a small chance that it could improve the shape of his head, we had to go for it. The helmet had to be worn 23 hours a day for 16 months and came off for 1 hour a day to be cleaned. 

Myles was an absolute star, he never cried or complained about the helmet, he just got on with it and accepted it straight away. For us the 16 months felt like a lifetime but we stuck with it and made sure Myles had his helmet on 23 hours a day.

I started running just before Myles had his first operation and it helped me clear my head. I ran to switch off for a while, I put on my headphones and off I went.

The results were fantastic when Myles finally had his helmet taken off for good, his forehead had moved back very slightly and the back of his head looked much rounder. We were so pleased that the helmet made a difference.

As well as running this marathon for my own personal achievement, I want to help raise awareness about Craniosynostosis too. This is why I have decided to support the charity Headlines, they help give support and advice to families dealing with craniosynostosis. We didn't know about them when we needed support so I want to help other people by raising money for them.

Thank you for taking the time to read Myles's story.

If you would like to sponsor me, that would be fantastic! Any donations are greatly appreciated, even if it's just £1 it will make a huge difference to a family dealing with craniosynostosis. You will also be helping me with my training too, your support will make me even more determined to go out and run even when it's freezing cold or pouring with rain, or when I just don't feel like it!! 

Thank you very much 

Laura xxx 

I forgot to mention that Myles's operation was very successful, Dr Jeelani was the doctor at Great Ormond Street Children's hospital that operated on him and he did a fantastic job correcting Myles's skull. The reason that we had Myles fitted with the helmet was to improve the shape of his head further. The shape of Myles's head was classed as 'cosmetic' after the operation and to us that seemed crazy. Having breast implants is cosmetic, I don't see how that can be put in the same category as the shape of someone's head? We felt that Myles could become very insecure about the shape of his head as he gets older especially if it looked very different to other children. We wanted his head to be able to develop as fully as possible given the circumstances.