A FIFE mother-of-two got her friends together to raise thousands for the children’s charity which cares for her young son – beating her original target by over £3,000.

Carron Morrison and her three friends, Alanna McDermott, Julie Morris and Lindsay Dobbie collectively raised just over £4000 for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) by completing the Aviemore half marathon in October last year, smashing their initial target of £750.

Their efforts come after the many years of support Carron and her family have received from ECHC while her son Jayden has been in hospital.

Jayden, 10, was born with scoliosis or curvature of the spine, as well as having a few other complications such as Dextrocardia, which means his heart is on the wrong side as well as having some abnormalities with his ribs.

This has resulted in many trips to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, the most recent being for a spinal fusion procedure last November to help straighten Jayden’s spine.

Carron praised the work of ECHC which she has experienced firsthand: “Jayden has been in and out of hospital more times than we can remember over the years but ECHC has helped make the whole experience to be less stressful for us all.

“The staff are always warm and caring and provide entertainment to help distract him – he loved the people dressed up as ‘Clown doctors’ when he was younger.”

Carron and her three best friends set themselves the challenge of completing the Aviemore half marathon, following a 12 week training plan and running together whenever they could.

Just weeks before the big event, Carron had a fall whilst training, resulting in a badly sprained ankle and stitches and was unfortunately unable to run.

The kind donations and continued support from family, friends and colleagues meant that the group smashed their fundraising target, raising an amazing total of over £4000.

Both Carron and her husband work for Sky, who donated £300. £200 was donated from Bosch, Aegon donated £250, and £75 was donated by the teachers at Cowdenbeath Primary school where Carron’s friends are employed.

Jayden is a keen young footballer, playing for the Norries, his local team. In the run up to his last match last August, both the Norries and the opposing team, the Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts donated £100 each to the charity.

Sue Diamond, Community Fundraising Manager at ECHC said: “Jayden’s such a special little boy and it’s a real joy to help brighten up his days when he is undergoing treatment.

“We’d like to thank Carron and her friends for their tremendous efforts, as well as the wider Cowdenbeath community, who have helped to raise such a phenomenal figure for ECHC.

“It is with the support of our fundraisers that we are able to transform the hospital experiences of children, helping them to be a child first and patient second.

“We would be delighted to support both individuals and groups who wished to fundraise in the future to continue the fantastic work of the charity.”

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