Little steps taken by families to save tiny lives in charity walk
Belting through Old Portsmouth and Southsea seafront, Nathan Davies hardly stopped for breath.
Passers-by would never have guessed the sports-mad 15-year-old was born three weeks early, on doctors insistence, because his elder brother was born stillborn.
His mother Sharon did not want to take any risks with Nathan's birth and despite him being born with under-developed lungs and spending a month in the special care baby unit he is now a healthy teenager.
Together they took part in the Walk for Tiny Lives, organised by Action Medical Research, to raise cash to try and find out why some babies are born prematurely.
The event kicked off at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard yesterday and, instead of walking, Nathan decided to run it.
His mother, a 48-year-old pre-school manager from Gosport, said: 'I'm very proud of him. I walked and tried to keep an eye on him but he was off like a shot.
'I carried Nathan's older brother Ben to full term and he was born in the morning but had died by tea-time. It was very hard for the family and that's why we're here today. We want to try and help other parents who go through this sort of thing and one day, hopefully, it won't happen any more.
'Nathan was quite ill when he was born by Caesarean section but he is fine now - into absolutely everything.'
Dozens of people took part in the three-mile walk around Old Portsmouth and Southsea yesterday. Together they raised about 3,000.
Claudine Weeks, from the charity, said: 'We've done very well considering this is the first year.
'The families have been brilliant.'
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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