Midwife team in Portsmouth hope to raise thousands from Great South Run to pay for rehabilitation treatment

That is how midwife Jenny Evans feels as staff from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust have volunteered to help the mum-of-two raise £10,000 for rehabilitation treatment for son Finn who has cerebal palsy and is set to undergo spinal surgery this summer.

The 40-year-old said: ‘It is overwhelming that everyone wants to help us and make sure that this life changing operation for Finn works the best it can with treatment afterwards. It costs £115 per hour which is a lot but it so vital.

‘I am thankful that my friends and colleagues are supporting me and some who have never even run for a bus before are stepping up and training to run 10 miles in October and some of the children are running the junior races as well.’

Charity Tree of Hope is helping the family to manage donations for the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery that five-year-old Finn is due to have. The surgery involves permanently cutting the sensory nerves, to get rid of the excess tone and spasticity. 

Jenny, from Bishop’s Waltham added: ‘Finn is one amazing, happy, cheeky and determined little man and by having this surgery and rehabilitation, we hope it will reduce how much he uses his wheelchair, improve his mobility, reduce his pain, give him more independence and overall give him a better quality of life in the future.’

Friend and fellow colleague Michelle Wright said: ‘It is great to be a part of it and I think it is so important that we raise the money otherwise the surgery will have been for nothing. 

Pal and midwife at Queen Alexandra Hospitla Aimee Carter added: ‘If there is anything we can do to support Jenny and her family at a time like this then we want to do it.’

Operations Midwife Matron Kerry Madgwick said: ‘It is amazing to see the team supporting each other and I think it is great that they want to help Jenny.

Portsmouth Hospitals Trust has also teamed up with Great South Run to encourage staff to join up to promote keeping active and ensuring good mental wellbeing.

Kerry added: ‘The job we have is so rewarding but it can be stressful and emotinally draining so to all be doing something together with a goal is a good motivator.

‘It also good to have them working as a team outside their roles because it makes them closer which is great for patient safety and their own wellbeing.’

To donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/fundsforfinn