Newbury boy Eliot Fish to run mini marathon to raise money for the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital

A seven-year-old who suffered a brain haemorrhage when he was just five days old is running a mini marathon to raise money for the hospital ward that looked after him.

Falkland Primary School pupil Eliot Fish will be taking part in the 1.2km Mini South Run on Saturday, October 14 as part of Portsmouth’s annual Great South Run event.

He is raising money for Friends of PICU, a charity that supports the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital where Eliot was looked after as a newborn.

Eliot said: “I don’t know how it will go, but I think it will go good.”

Eliot was born in Basingstoke seven years ago, but after suffering a bleed on the brain he was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital where he remained for a week.

Despite the seriousness of the haemorrhage, Eliot was able to pull through and survive the ordeal.

Eliot’s father Jordan Fish said: “It’s been a long process really, with lots of physio for him. But he’s doing amazingly well. It was touch and go in hospital, but he is incredible now.”

He does has some physical disabilities stemming from the injury.

Most of these are focused on the left side of his body, which diminishes how easily he can move his hand and foot, as well as a slight visual impairment in his left eye.

Mr Fish added: “He has his own style of running which is really cute to be honest. He has kind of just found a way, which is how he’s done it all along.

“He will find a way to do things his own way and he doesn’t let anything stop him or hold him back. He is amazing.”

Eliot has already raised £3,151 for the charity, smashing his initial target of £1,000, and he hopes to become the Great South Run’s biggest single fundraiser.

To view Eliot’s fundraising page, visit http://rb.gy/f9xpf

In preparation for next weekend’s physically-demanding challenge, he has been training regularly with his mum Emma and his four-year-old sister Eden.