Berkhamsted brothers pound the pavements to raise thousands for Great Ormond Street Hospital

Brothers from Berkhamsted have been pounding the pavements this month in a bid to tun 100km each by Rare Disease Day (February 28) to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSH Charity).

Oli Broadwith, 12, and his brother Tom, nine, are both monitored and treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children, after developing symptoms of a rare heart condition that affects the aorta - a condition that has impacted on at least three generations of their family.

The boys had been regularly monitored at GOSH in the lead up to the changes to their heart being diagnosed.

Tom and Oli, who both enjoy sports, came up with the idea of taking on a running challenge throughout the month of February as they wanted to keep active while they were home schooling during lockdown.

They also wanted to give something back to a cause they had a personal connection with.

So far the brothers have run every single day in February and are determined to keep chipping away at their target, with the hope of completing their final kilometre on Rare Disease Day, this Sunday (February 28).

The energetic duo have already raised over £3,600 GOSH Charity.

Their mum Helen Simpson said: “Both my father and half-brother sadly died of sudden aortic dissections. My four children have also been monitored and Tom and Oli, my eldest two, recently developed dilated aortas.

“The children are now at the Zayed Centre for Research under a rare inherited diseases clinic as we don’t know what it causing this condition.

"While I always feel a bit nervous going into hospital for their check-ups, because the boys’ condition is one that deteriorates over time, GOSH is so obviously child focused with a real warmth towards the children and all of that makes a big difference to our family.”

Tom and Oli initially set themselves a £100 fundraising target which they quickly surpassed, much to their surprise.

Helen added: “They are absolutely amazed at how kind and generous people have been in donating!

"On the final day of February, to mark the end of the running challenge, Tom’s doing one of his regular fundraising bake sales for GOSH, he’s made little menus and we’ll be posting some cakes through people’s doors so it’s all socially distanced too.”

The family backs the importance of the focus on research in the lead up to Rare Disease Day.

Helen said: “I think we all feel incredibly lucky to be under a hospital with the sort of facilities and research centre that GOSH has, the number of researchers who are there to help families like ours is very visible.

"The boys are really interested in science, so with the entrance to the Zayed Centre effectively being a walkway over a huge research lab, they were fascinated to see what everyone in there was doing and by the idea of medical researchers hard at work in the same building!

“Research is so important to us because this health condition is something that’s affected three generations of my family and is something that I expect will affect more in the future.

"It causes huge uncertainty for families like ours, and the only chance of getting answers is in the hands of scientists and researchers.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity needs to raise money to support the hospital to give seriously ill children, the best chance for life.

The charity funds research into pioneering new treatments for children, provides the most up to date medical equipment, funds support services for children and their families and supports the essential rebuilding and refurbishment of the hospital.

To support Tom and Oli on their final stretch of the running challenge click here. For more about Great Ormond Street Hospital and the charity visit: www.gosh.org.