AFTER Jill Blackburn’s 11-month-old daughter Matilda was struck down by meningitis she thanked staff at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital for saving her life.

Now the mum-of-three is running the Oxford half marathon on Sunday, October 12 to raise money for the Paediatric Critical Care unit at the hospital where Matilda spent three days in a coma.

Mrs Blackburn, who lives in Summertown, said: “The critical care unit was absolutely amazing.

“You need superheroes who can save your baby and to raise some money for them was closure for me.

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“The NHS were great and it is all free.

“You don’t realise how lucky you are until you have a big problem and the care that the staff at the JR provide is as good as Great Ormond Street in London.

“I had already decided to do the marathon and then all this happened and I thought it was a great opportunity to raise some money for them.”

Matilda, now aged 13 months, contracted the infection on July 20 and was rushed to hospital where she spent a total of two weeks recovering.

Mrs Blackburn said her daughter had been unwell in previous days and suddenly took a turn for the worse.

She said: “She was very floppy, her colour was pale, she was almost grey. Her lips were pale and she was very unresponsive.”

Doctors at the John Radcliffe diagnosed her with meningococcal meningitis, one of a strain of the infection which childhood vaccinations don’t guard against.

When she stopped breathing they placed her in a coma and waited for the antibiotics they had given her to start working.

Mrs Blackburn said: “We weren’t sure if she would wake up and we weren’t sure if she would be blind or deaf if she did wake up.

“Amazingly she’s absolutely fine. She’s a strong baby with a lot to live for.”

The primary school teacher who is currently a full time mum to Matilda, eight-year-old Dylan and two-year-old Harry, said raising the money was a way of giving something back.

She said: “How do you say thank you to a doctor for saving your child’s life?

“I thought raising the money would be a good way. I have raised more than £1,100 so far and hopefully I can make some more and help the critical care unit carry on being amazing.”

To sponsor Jill visit justgiving.com/jill-blackburn-hooker

For full results of the Oxford Half Marathon, see the Oxford Mail on Monday, October 13

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