Harwell grandad running Oxford Half Marathon for charity that helped save grandsons
John Porter is raising money for hospital equipment to help more premature twins
A grandfather from Harwell, near Didcot, is taking on the Oxford Half Marathon this weekend to raise money for the charity that helped save his twin grandsons.
John Porter, aged 68, is running the 13.1-mile race on Sunday in aid of SSNAP (Supporting Sick Newborns and their Parents), which supported his family when his grandsons were born three months early.
In December 2021, John's daughter Amy had recently returned from the Dominican Republic, where she had been running a school, when her waters unexpectedly broke.
Her husband was still overseas, leaving John to rush her to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
Both babies were seriously ill, and doctors warned the family that one of them might not survive.
Twins Owen and Aron were delivered by emergency caesarean section on 21 December, weighing just 2lbs each, before being taken into intensive care.
Due to COVID restrictions at the time, John was unable to meet his grandsons for seven weeks.
He said: "For the first few weeks, it was touch and go. They were both very weak.
"I was just wanting to hug them, wanting to pick them up, wanting to whisper their names into their ears."
Giving back to SSNAP
Throughout the twins' time in hospital, Oxford-based charity SSNAP gave vital practical and emotional support to the family.
The charity helps providing everything from specialist equipment and tiny baby clothes to food, rest facilities and emotional support.
"The staff do a fantastic job," John said. "They've got lots of babies and people to look after and so to have that extra one-to-one support during the day and during the night is fantastic."
John is now fundraising for hospital equipment to help more families like his.
He said: "The reason I'm running is to raise money for a twin incubator so that twins born together can stay together.
"Those incubators cost £3,700 and I've raised already nearly £4,000!"
'I wanted to see them grow up'
The experience has also inspired John to transform his own health, taking up running with the Harwell Harriers.
He says the seven weeks he spent waiting to meet his grandsons made him determined to live a healthier life.
"It made me realise how strongly you can love somebody that you haven't even seen," he said.
"I wanted to get to a situation where I could see them grow up. I could see them go through school, perhaps go through university or into their first jobs."
John now runs several times a week and says he's fitter than ever.
"I'm physically far stronger than I probably have been in my life. I can run faster than I could 40 or even 50 years ago."
The twins, who turn five in December, have recently started primary school and live with their mum, dad and John in Harwell.
He said: "They love going to school. As soon as they're out of the car, they just run off with their book bags and their jumpers."
With the Oxford Half Marathon just days away, John hopes his fundraising will help others facing the same uncertainty his family experienced.
He added: "I'm running so that the people that follow me, or people that follow my grandchildren, are supported just as we were."