SoNAR Running Man – Big Miles for Tiny Lives

This September, SoNAR Lead Nurse Patrick Turton is lacing up his running shoes for an extraordinary challenge. Patrick is running more than 380 miles across the South West in just 14 days. He is raising vital funds and awareness for the South West Neonatal Advice and Retrieval Service (SoNAR), which helps some of the regions smallest and sickest babies.

Patrick’s challenge route will see him run to all 12 hospitals in the South West neonatal network that are supported by SoNAR, crossing seven counties and covering a distance roughly equivalent from Bristol to Edinburgh.

SoNAR carries out around 1,200 transfers every year, moving sick and premature babies to specialist hospitals when they need urgent care. The services also plays a vital role in helping reunite families, bringing babies closer to home when they are well enough to return to their local hospital.

Every Mile Represents a Family’s Journey

The challenge highlights the resilience of families facing difficult early days, and the specialist care teams who support them. Every mile Patick runs represents the vital support SoNAR provides 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The service is staffed by experienced transport nurses, doctors and advanced practitioners and operates from bases in Bristol and Plymouth.

For Patrick, the challenge is about more than the physical distance.

Connecting Neonatal Units Across the South West

Over 14 days, Patrick will run through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol, stopping at neonatal and special care baby units across the region along the way.

Beginning in Truro on Friday the 11 September, his route will take him to Plymouth, Torbay, Exeter, Taunton, Yeovil, Bath, Swindon and Gloucester before finishing outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol on 24 September.

While the miles will be tough, the cause driving Patrick forward is even more important. The fundraiser aims to raise funds to purchase specialist equipment that will directly benefit babies, families and the SoNAR team.

How You Can Make a Difference

Every donation made to the SoNAR Running Man Challenge will help support SoNAR’s work and the 1,200 babies and families the service helps every year.

As Patrick prepares to take on one of the biggest challenges of his life, supporters are encouraged to follow his progress, cheer him on from the sidelines and help him reach his fundraising target.