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WMS students conquer Great North Run in aid of Grace

Grace teamgrfloTwo Warwick Medical School students took part in the Great North Run earlier this month to raise money for the Grace Research Fund. Zara Eagle and Lauren Satterthwaite joined 40,000 other runners taking part in the annual half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields.

Zara and Laren were joined by Faye Bradley, a neonatal nurse at UHCW and local dads, Andy Fox and Ryan New to make up the Grace Team. Undeterred by the poor weather and with cheering crowds to keep their spirits up, all five runners completed the course in under three hours with Andy coming in at just 1 hour 49 minutes.

Local volunteers drove the team up to Newcastle in a minibus, cheered them on and provided some much needed hugs and champagne at the finish line. The team has so far raised in excess of £5,000 for the charity.

The gruelling 13 mile Great North Run was first held in 1981 and has since become one of the world's biggest running events.

About Grace Research Fund

The Grace Research Fund is a Coventry and Warwickshire based fundraising initiative involving the University Hospital, George Elliot and Warwick Hospitals and the University of Warwick. Money raised by the charity is used to support much needed medical research into the causes of premature births and the best forms of neonatal care, to enhance the wellbeing of babies and their families.

GRF was originally set up by Coventry residents Tracy and Simon Hayes, in memory of their daughter Grace who was born 14 weeks early at Walsgrave Hospital. She weighed only 1lb and at five months went home on oxygen. Unfortunately, due to her lung condition and extreme prematurity she developed pulmonary hypertension and died in Birmingham Children's Hospital aged nine months. Tracy and Simon established the Grace Research Fund to finance and support research into improving the wellbeing of babies and their families in Coventry and Warwickshire and in some cases, the findings of projects supported have impacted neonatal care nationally.

Find out more on the Grace Research Fund website.