The official charity partner for Sunderland City Runs 2025, Red Sky Foundation, are supporting a group of dedicated runners who will be taking on Sunday’s 10K or Half Marathon to raise money for the local charity.
“My husband Paul Bowman is running the Sunderland 10K for Red Sky Foundation, as it is a charity that we hold close to our hearts.
On 17th March 2023, our daughter Grace Bowman was 5 months old when she had a cardiac arrest at home. Our daughter spent 6 months in the Freeman and had two runs on ECMO and eventually open heart surgery with reconstructive surgery on her aortic valve. Grace’s condition was so rare that she is the only ever recorded infant case worldwide, with only two other recorded cases.
Due to the difficulties and diagnosis, Grace arrested on 4 occasions, putting her heart under a lot of strain and leaving it in a bad condition. Grace’s recovery was challenging and required the support of a tracheostomy.
At the start of September, Grace was decannulated from her tracheostomy a week before getting discharged, which was also a couple of weeks before her first birthday. Grace is now 2 and a half years old, and is mischievous, full of life and has what looks to be a very bright future in front of her.
In our time in hospital, we were supported by charities such as Red Sky, CHUF, and the Sick Children’s Trust who all played a part in bringing our baby girl home, one way or another. Our eldest daughter Summer stayed with us at Scott House and she was 4 years old at the time. We have fond memories of the Fridays when we eventually made it down to HDU, of walking down to get an ice cream with Grace, Summer and Evie, who was in the bedspace next to Grace. We can’t thank all the charities, the NHS and the staff enough for helping us bring our baby girl home.”
Troy Baker: “My first ever time I ran for Red Sky Foundation was out of pure chance. I was asked to run with a friend and that’s when I first crossed paths with Sergio.
Sergio offered me a place in return for wearing a Red Sky t-shirt, and long story short, that run changed my life. I witnessed firsthand a defib being used to save a man’s life, and from that day, I knew every time I run for Red Sky, I turn my passion to run into a way to save lives in the process.
Since that day, Sergio has helped me in so many ways, and I’m proud to say I now have a 24/7 defib secured on my gym to help serve the community in an emergency, and I also have one which I can take with me to talks and events in which I’m attending.
I’ve now run four races on behalf of Red Sky, fought two boxing fights, and have another run and a boxing fight planned. I’m hoping I’ll have many more in the future too. Thank you Team Red Sky!”
Davie Mason is a Red Sky runner like no other. He has been part of Team Red Sky for a few years and always pushes himself to take on new challenges.
Most recently, Davy and his friend ‘Geordie’ wanted to make a statement on their runs. They’ve now started running with a Red Sky defibrillator cabinet with a working defibrillator on their backs to raise awareness for heart disease and for the charity itself. Their efforts have definitely not gone unnoticed and have instilled them in the Red Sky hall of fame!
Davy will be running the Sunderland Half Marathon on Sunday with the working defibrillator cabinet on his back, not only to raise awareness of an important piece of equipment that Red Sky works hard to install in the community, but also in case of medical emergency.
Read more about the vital work Red Sky do, by visiting their website now: https://redskyfoundation.com/
