Rosa has her mum ready to run the extra mile-s (From Banbury Cake)

Inspired by her two-year-old daughter, a Benson mother prepares to tackle the OX5 run

2:50pm Friday 30th January 2009 in News By Andrew Ffrench

SARAH Vaccari has never run for a bus in her life and is not keen on jogging.

But she is dusting off her trainers for this year’s OX5 Run to raise funds for Oxford Children's Hospital, where her two-year-old daughter Rosa will undergo heart surgery this year.

The five-mile run at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, takes place on Sun-day, April 19. Hospital managers hope more than 1,000 people will take part to help raise £50,000.

Recruitment consultants Allen Associates and Motorworld are the event’s two main sponsors, and they want as many companies as possible to enter teams in the corporate challenge section of the race.

Mrs Vaccari, communications manager for the fundraising team at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Rosa will be having heart surgery later this year for a congenital heart defect called AVSD (Atrioven-tricular Septal Defect).

“Working in the fundraising team, I see the great work that goes on at the Children’s Hospital, and this has really helped calm my fears about what is coming up for her.

“Fundraising enables the trust to go that extra mile by paying for medical equipment and facilities that the NHS would not normally be able to afford.

“For example, the hospital has proper beds for parents next to their children — and I will be one of the parents benefiting from this.”

She said of Rosa: “She is a real character, a very funny and feisty little girl, but she will be confused and upset after the operation, and to know that I can always be there if she wakes up in the middle of the night means such a lot to me.”

Mrs Vaccari, who lives at Benson, is getting a team of friends together and plans to start training next month.

The mother-of-two, who also has a four-year-old daughter, Ava, added: “I would never normally think about taking part in a run, so this is a big deal for me. But I really wanted to do something and this seems like a great way to raise some funds, get fit and, hopefully, have some fun too.

“I know I will be at the back of the field, but this is one of those times when it really is the taking part that matters.”

Graham Brogden, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust’s head of community fundraising, said: “It's a brilliant event, with runners of all abilities, shapes and sizes joining forces to raise money that will help 65,000 children every year that are treated in the hospital.”

Entry costs £10 per person, and each runner is asked to try to raise a mini-mum of £100 in sponsorship.