THREE generations of the same family will take on the OX5 Run to say thank you and raise money for Oxford Children’s Hospital.

Ten-year-old Megan Ferguson was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis – a condition in which the colon and rectum become inflamed – in January last year.

She has suffered bleeding and weight loss and was kept in hospital for 12 days.

The Carterton youngster has returned to the children’s hospital as doctors treat her and give her new drugs to help her condition.

But her mum Denise said the hospital has become ‘a second home’ for Megan and three generations of the family will walk or run around the five-mile Blenheim Palace course on March 25 to raise money and say thank you.

The 51-year-old said: “When she first went in she was terrified – every time someone in a nursing uniform came near her she would have a dicky fit.

“But they have really looked after and now she just gets on with it and is as good as gold.

“She will be returning once a month for the next few months and then if the drugs work every eight weeks after – if not she could be facing an operation.

“We want to say thank you and raise as much money as possible.”

Megan’s grandmother Rosina Sadler, 75, will walk the course along with Denise, while her siblings Jack, 14, Stephanie, 27 and Laura, 29 will be running the event.

Calling their team ‘The Three Generations’ they have started the fundraising drive to help the hospital and its staff.

Denise, a mother of eight, said: “The gastroenterology team are amazing with children and adults too.

“They are rushed off their feet at the children’s hospital but every time the bell rings they come over and are so polite and so friendly.”

“They always have so much time for us, they listen, and they actually talk to Megan and ask her how she’s feeling rather than doing it through the parents.

“It’s like a second home for her – when she went back in they all knew who she and she knew them, which was fantastic.”

Last year’s record-breaking event raised £126,000 – bringing the OX5 Run, sponsored by Allen Associates for the 10th year running, to just £24,000 shy of £1 million in fundraising since its launch in 2003.

Money from this year’s event – once again sponsored by Oxford recruitment firm Allen Associates – will continue to support the building of a new 62-bedroom on-site parental accommodation block, supported by last year’s run and the hospital’s 10th anniversary appeal.

Funds donated last year also went towards a micro-biology scanner that can detect different type of meningitis in just several hours – an improvement on the current process which takes 72 hours – as well as toys, games and play specialists on the wards.

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