An incredible two-year-old who has fought off a host of medical issues has completed a 27-mile sponsored walk.
Alfie Barraclough, of Holbeach, has raised over £1,000 for the charity Bliss which helps the family of premature or sick babies such as himself.
Alfie was born 12 weeks premature, weighing just 1lb 7oz and has battled health issues for most of his life.
But last week he completed a challenge to walk a total of 27 miles before the end of September.
It took his little legs 44 separate walks over nearly three months while raising £1,000 to go to help others that have been born premature.
Mum Amber said: “All of our family are incredibly proud of what Alfie has achieved. We are incredibly grateful that he’s even able to complete something like this.
“Raising such a big amount of money was beyond our wildest dreams, our original target was £100 and he’s blown that out of the water.
“He absolutely loves getting out in the fresh air and having a walk, but he made sure to let us know when he’d had enough by climbing in his stroller.
“Alfie still doesn’t talk much, but he very often gave himself a round of applause and said “Yay well done” when we were praising him.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get to do much to celebrate.
“We had quite a few family and friends that wanted to be there but obviously because of the current guidelines that wasn’t possible.
“Sadly we lost Alfie’s great great nanny during lockdown and we didn’t get to celebrate her life so we’ve already decided that when we can get together as a family we will have a big party to celebrate both things.
“For now it was party cannons and a Happy Meal.”
Amber and dad Shaun were told to ‘prepare for the worst’ when it was realised how small Alfie was when Amber was 20 weeks pregnant.
He was born just eight weeks later by emergency caesarian when he was diagnosed with severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).
Alfie also had a heart defect which rectified itself and a rare condition that left the fingers on his right hand entangled which needed surgery when he was seven months old.
When he was 11 months old he was diagnosed with subglottic stenosis, the contraction of the voice box, where cysts were also found which required surgery as the cysts kept growing back.
But he’s continued to defy expectations and now loves walking around.
That’s why Amber and Shaun signed him up for Bliss’s Go The Distance challenge to cover 27 miles.
The charity say that’s the average extra distance a family has to go to see their sick newly born baby after it’s been moved to a specialist hospital.
Alfie himself had to be moved from Pilgrim Hospital to Sheffield with Bliss helping Amber and Shaun.
Amber said: “As a family we would love to thank everyone who has donated to a charity that is close to our hearts. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s support.”
You can donate to Alfie’s fundraising at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amber-barraclough
