Giving back to those who helped us immensly

Hi there,

Sean Walsh here, On Sunday 24th of October I have chose to Run a 42km Marathon in my Irish Army Combat Uniform with 30lbs/14kg weight on my back. The purpose of this is to raise vital funds for The South East Blood Bikes. As you may not have known this is a voluntary charity group that was founded in 2020 who transport a wide range of urgent medical items such as blood products, medical samples, scans, x-rays & urgent medicines plus much more vital services directly serving hospitals across the South East & also linking up with other blood bike groups to provide a nationwide service in which is run by a team of dedicated volunteers.

My Wife & I are lucky to be expecting our third Baby this year, as my Wife suffers from a serious metabolic condition known as Phenylketonuria (P.K.U. for short ) which is a rare inherited disorder that causes an amino acid called phenylalanine to build up in the body. PKU is caused by a defect in a gene that helps create the enzyme needed to break down phenylalanine. As a result of this Carol follows a strict Low protein diet from birth, as high protein levels can result in severe long term brain damage if diet is not controlled . Whilst Carol is pregnant it is even more vital that screening of her bloods is monitored twice weekly for the duration of Pregnancy as high levels may result in birth defects or it could lead to serious health problems for both her and her unborn baby.

Since March 12th 2021 South East Blood Bikes have came on board to offer their incredible service to collect this vital blood sample from Carol each Monday & Thursday and ensure safe delivery to Temple Street Hospital to ensure testing to be carried out so that the Metabolic Medical team over Carol at the Mater Hospital can assist her in what instruction needs to be carried out to ensure Carol has a safe, healthy and normal pregnancy ensuring that they both are protected and have a positive outcome.

Without the help of the blood bikes we would have had to rely on postal blood samples which proved quiet difficult during the pandemic. South East blood bikes ensured us a quick collection and delivery meaning both Carol & our unborn baby are monitored so closely during the duration of the pregnancy.

As South East Blood Bikes runs solely on donations to keep running we felt even our donations each month was never enough to give our thanks and this is the reason for such event!