Motivated mum's challenge in aid of 'life-saving' hospitals

Steph Buller’s 21-month-old daughter, Margot, originally suffered a complex seizure at home last year.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Steph, from Rotherham.

After being rushed to Rotherham Hospital by paramedics, Margot’s seizure continued for over an hour and eventually she was put into an induced coma.

She was transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital’s intensive care unit, and the family was told to prepare for the possibility of Margot suffering long-term brain damage.

Miraculously, just a few days later, Steph and her husband were told their toddler would make a full recovery.

She said: “We went from being told they couldn’t promise that our daughter would live, to being able to take our daughter home a week later with no long-term effects.

“That is purely down to the fact that Rotherham and Sheffield worked so fast and they worked together.”

The mum decided to do something to give back to the hospitals and Embrace Transfer, the specialist paediatric ambulance which moved Margot between them.

In February this year, just months after having her second daughter and one year on from Margot’s seizure, Steph began her challenge to run nearly 130km over five events this year.

The 33-year-old ran the Rother Valley Parkrun, quickly followed by the Wickersley 10km.

Most recently, she finished the Sheffield half-marathon in March and the Leeds Marathon in May.

Now she’s training for her biggest challenge yet - a 50km ultra-marathon in September.

She said: “It’s not just a physical challenge - it’s a deeply personal journey.

“Balancing family life and night feeds with long training runs has been tough.

“But I’m also looking forward to the challenge and trying to show just a shred of the resilience Margot has.

“I’m purely doing this just to say thank you to the hospitals, and to try and raise a bit of awareness of everything these guys do.

“I feel more motivated than ever to give back to the hospitals that enabled us to enjoy life as a family of four and the teams who saved Margot’s life that night.”