This weekend, 50 dedicated runners will take part in the Oxford Half Marathon to support Oxford Hospitals Charity. Among them is Pippa Marsden from Cheltenham, whose journey is deeply personal—she’s running for the team that saved her son, Francis.

What began as a cough and difficulty breathing last December turned into an experience no parent ever expects to face. 

Her eight-month-old son Francis, now 18 months, was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after struggling to breathe due to contracting parainfluenza B, a virus that causes croup. Though he had previously been treated for croup, his condition worsened rapidly. By the time the ambulance arrived, Francis was turning blue and required adrenaline to stabilise him en route.

Pippa chose for her son to go to Oxford, because of its reputation for exceptional paediatric care and following a series of tests, doctors discovered that Francis had an underlying condition known as Subglottic Stenosis - a narrowing of the airway just below the vocal cords.

Within days, Francis was too exhausted to breathe on his own and was placed in a medically induced coma. He spent over three weeks on a ventilator in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

On 18th December, after travelling two hours each day to visit their baby, Pippa and her partner Andy were offered a room at Ronald McDonald House located on the JR site.

“Over the following week, I gradually had to accept that we were going to be living between Ronald McDonald House and PICU over Christmas,” said Pippa. “Coming to terms with the fact that we wouldn’t see Francis awake for his first Christmas, and not knowing if we ever would again, was incredibly hard.”

Over the months that followed, Francis underwent 12 operations on his throat. He spent a month in PICU and another week on the high dependency ward before finally being allowed home.

Francis needed inpatient admissions for a Microlaryngoscopy and bronchoscopy procedure, which is used to examine a patient's airway using an endoscope, under general anaesthetic every 3 weeks until April this year, and then one further one in May.

They were then reviewed as outpatients in August were told that Francis won’t need any further treatment if he manages to get through the winter without any complications.

Reflecting on the care her son received, Pippa said: “At every turn, the decisions made for Francis have been second to none. They absolutely meant that we still have a little boy to love and care for. Without the expert team and some of the equipment made possible through funding from Oxford Hospitals Charity, we know we would have lost him.

In January, determined to give something back, Pippa contacted Oxford Hospitals Charity to find out how she could help and signed up to run the Oxford Half Marathon.

Her background is in running, being a GB Triathlete and she said: I’m really looking forward to taking on this challenge and raising money for the NHS staff who cared so brilliantly for Francis.”