A grateful father whose two year old son required emergency lifesaving treatment when he was born will be running the Virgin Money London Marathon to raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust – a charity which runs free ‘Home from Home’ accommodation for families with critically ill children in hospital.

Butcher Mark Dean, 29, from Walton on the Naze, will be taking on his first marathon this April in a bid to raise £3,000 for The Sick Children’s Trust to thank the charity for giving him and wife Poppy free ‘Home from Home’ accommodation when their son, David, required lifesaving treatment miles away from home.

At just a few hours old, David was rushed to The Rosie Hospital, Cambridge, following a series of seizures after a difficult birth. With Mum, Poppy, requiring further hospital treatment, she and Mark had to wait for her to be discharged before they could join their new-born son. While they waited, the couple were told about The Sick Children’s Trust, which runs two ‘Homes from Home’ in Cambridge.