Ex-Blade To Run North Run For Charity

Last updated : 02 August 2009 By @blades_mad1889

Wigan Athletic 4-0 Hereford United - Andy Liddell scores from the penalty spot.

Image copyright to SportBox.TV
Liddell, 36 was signed by Neil Warnock on a free transfer from Wigan Athletic in June 2004, making his debut in a 1-1 draw at Burnley on the opening day of the 2004/05 season. This was his only season as a Blades player and will fondly be best remembered for his brace against Aston Villa (won 3-1) in the FA Cup.

At the end of that season he signed for Oldham Athletic and remained at Boundary Park until the end of the 2008/09 campaign where he hung up his boots. Whilst at Bramall Lane the former Tyke made 32 (+7) league and cup appearances whilst also netting 6 goals.

CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR ANDY LIDDELL

The former Winger will run the BUPA Great North Run for Martin House Children's Hospice on 20th August 2009; Liddell takes up his story which is featured on the sponsorship site; justgiving.com.

On the 29th May 2009 our daughter Giorgina Grace Liddell arrived into our world and changed it forever. She was born with a condition called gastroschisis. This meant that her bowel was on the outside of her tummy instead of inside. We knew from previous scans that she had the condition but that the success rate for dealing with and operating on the problem was 95% in our favour.

Unfortunately, we ended up in the 5% that have problems with the condition. Giorgina's bowel had become twisted while she was inside her Mum and there was no way of detecting that this had happened. When she was born her bowel was black instead of the healthy pink colour it should have been. The bowel was dead and meant that she could not digest any food or liquid that was given to her. When the L.G.I. told us that our daughter would not survive it was the worst moment of our lives.

They did all they could for her and us but we made the decision to take her to a place called Martin House Children's Hospice where they deal with very poorly and terminally ill children. This place literally changed our lives. The care and support they gave to Giorgina, my wife Charlotte and myself and all our family and friends that visited us there was totally amazing and unbelievable. .

We spent 11 wonderful days with Giorgina before she passed away and Martin House made that time as special as they could. The staff there could not do enough for us and we will be forever in their debt. That is why I will be doing as much as I can to raise money and awareness for them in the future starting with the Great North Run.

Any donations you can make will go towards helping them care for families and children going through difficult and upsetting times. The situation we found ourselves in could easily happen to anybody. It could happen to you. Please give as much as you can and help me raise as much as I possibly can.

CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR ANDY LIDDELL