Premature baby Hope's survival inspires mum Sarah to sign up for this year's Great South Run Â

Sarah Davies' daughter Hope was born prematurely at just 25 weeks '“ and now Sarah is set to take on the Simplyhealth Great South Run to raise money for the charity that supported her in the aftermath of her birth.

Hope weighed just 2lbs when she was born in April 2014 and spent the first 10 weeks of her life in the neonatal unit in the Queen Alexandra hospital in Cosham, where she was put into quarantine and had numerous blood transfusions.

Hope's situation was devastating for her parents Sarah and Paul, who had suffered a pregnancy loss two months before falling pregnant with their

daughter.

Despite the odds being stacked against her, Hope was able to return home a month before her original due date. She came home on oxygen and had regular visits from nurses, but eventually became oxygen free that October.

Hope, who is now four, is now thriving and is preparing to start school later this year and Sarah decided that she wanted to run 10 miles in support other families and their babies who go through a similar thing.

During her time in hospital, she learned of the Ickle Pickles charity who provided her with support and guidance during a period of uncertainty.

Sarah, 33, said: '˜I suffered a pregnancy loss at two days short of 20 weeks in 2014. After a post-mortem we were still none the wiser and got referred to our consultant to look after us during future pregnancies.

'˜Two months later we fell pregnant again and I was apprehensive and decided we should call this bump Hope because we were hopeful it would go well.

'˜Everything was going great until my 20 week scan, this was a milestone for me as I hadn't made it this far previously.

'˜Following the scan I was wheeled into the labour ward and told that there was only an 11 per cent chance that the baby would survive as I was 4.2cm dilated!

'˜I had a cervical stitch put in and was put on bed rest in the hospital until the baby was born. I managed to hold on for five weeks but at 25 weeks I went into natural labour again and despite the efforts, Hope was born 14 weeks and two days early.

'˜She weighed just 2lb, which is 907 grams. I saw her for about five seconds before she was whisked away to the neonatal unit.

'˜This was so hard and we were full of mixed motions, we knew we had a very bumpy road ahead.

'˜I tried to make myself useful by changing her incubator blankets every day and when allowed buying outfits for her and changing her. This made me feel like a mum being able to have some control on the decisions for my daughter.

'˜It took two weeks before we were able to hold her and this was the best feeling ever.

'˜After spending months in hospital, we were finally able to bring her home and use all of the things we had bought for her. We've never looked back.

'˜I learned about the work of Ickle Pickles through our own experience and I try to get involved as much as I can. Without their support Hope may not be here so I decided to run the Simplyhealth Great South Run on their behalf.'

Every runner has a story, it's time to start yours. Enter the Simplyhealth Great South Run here.