Hastings Half Marathon 2026

We are taking part in Hastings Half Marathon 2026 to raise money for ECHO and Tiny Tickers. They are two children’s heart charities who helped us get through a very tough time with our son’s heart operation at three weeks old. They continue to support us and many other families. We are very lucky to have them and wish to help them continue their hard work and show our appreciation by completing our first ever half marathon together and aiming to raise £1000 to split between the two charities. ♥️

1 in 125 babies in the UK are born with a serious heart condition, our son Ernie was born with pulmonary stenosis, ASD and regurgitation of the pulmonary and tricuspid valve as a result of laser surgery in the womb at 18 weeks to save him and his twin brother Albie from twin to twin transfusion syndrome. 1 in 10 identical twin pregnancies result in TTTS, this means one baby (Albie) is a donor, not getting enough amniotic fluid and giving all the blood and oxygen to the larger recipient baby (Ernie) who therefore is getting to much which results in organ failure. We were given a 25% chance of survival for both boys if we underwent the laser treatment to split the blood vessels connected between them both, if we didn’t have this they would both have passed away within 2 weeks. Thankfully, they both survived and were born 4 weeks premature. After a traumatic birth Ash noticed Ernie’s breathing wasn’t right, he was rushed off for tests. An echocardiogram revealed his diagnosis and he under went balloon surgery at 3 weeks old. He will need further surgery to repair the valves that have leaked as a side effect from the catheter surgery he had. Our boys are going to be 2 in April and as possible further operations for Ernie get closer we aim to help as many other families in this situation as we can. Thank you for reading and your donation. ♥️