Cricket rivalry was put to at least one facet by Surrey and Middlesex on Thursday to honour the lifetime of “unimaginable” Florence Dunn, the daughter of Matt Dunn who died in March.
Surrey bowler Dunn led a workforce of runners from Lord’s to the Kia Oval on day one of many LV= Insurance coverage County Championship fixture to lift funds for charity Dravet Syndrome UK.
Dunn’s daughter Florence was recognized with the uncommon and extreme type of epilepsy, when she was 11 months outdated and died earlier this 12 months on the age of two.
Former England Lions seamer Dunn and spouse Jessica have determined to run 5k on daily basis of Could to lift funds and consciousness of Dravet Syndrome UK, following the lead of Regional Delight of Britain winner Tamara Ward who began the ‘on daily basis in Could for Dravet’ problem.
The Division One fixture between the London rivals has been devoted to the charity with each groups warming up in particular T-shirts displaying an image of Florence whereas commemorative caps have been signed by every member of the Surrey and Middlesex beginning line-up.
These will now be auctioned off and Dunn alongside his workforce of runners obtained applause from the Kia Oval crowd once they walked onto the pitch earlier than play resumed at 3pm having accomplished the 5k run from Lord’s forward of lunch being taken.
Dunn had an extended embrace with Surrey captain Rory Burns and hugged Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones together with his present deal with fundraising and elevating consciousness of a critical type of epilepsy that impacts one in 15,000 folks within the UK.
“The attention facet might be the largest for us,” Dunn instructed Surrey’s YouTube channel.
“As a result of it’s such a uncommon situation, actually nobody knew something and even with epilepsy typically, it’s such an unknown subject,” Dunn mirrored.
“Myself earlier than our journey with Florence, I knew actually little or no. For me it’s to shine a highlight on the every day struggles and challenges folks with Dravet Syndrome and epilepsy face.
“It’s a kind of fairly isolating sickness and a kind of sickness you gained’t see on daily life as a result of the danger for individuals who have epilepsy, it’s too nice to danger in daily actions.”
Life for the Dunn household was turned the wrong way up following Florence’s analysis and a big chunk of the second 12 months of her life was spent in hospital following life-threatening seizures, though new rescue medicine had a transformative impact.
The medicine meant quickly after Florence’s second birthday, she could possibly be handled immediately at residence after a seizure and subsequently recovered from them sufficiently faster having beforehand endured seizures that lasted as much as two hours throughout commonly journeys to Milton Keynes hospital.
Dunn added: “At two we lastly acquired rescue medicine we might safely use at residence and that reworked our lives for eight months.
“It meant we might give it to her immediately as quickly as she began seizing at residence and we had been terminating the seizure inside a minute or two. It was large for her and her restoration time.
“It meant between sickness or intervals of her being run down, we had been in a position to get out and do all of the issues each little one must be doing. For that eight months it actually gave us a lifetime of enjoyment and we noticed a change in her.”
The hazard with Dravet Syndrome and different types of epilepsy is the danger of sudden surprising dying in epilepsy (SUDEP), which occurred to Florence on March 11.
It left the Dunn household heartbroken however after watching Florence repeatedly defy docs expectations by strolling and speaking, they draw inspiration from her energy.
“As a personality she was fairly unimaginable. She was a personality who beloved life,” Dunn mirrored.
“That confirmed all through her complete time and even throughout hospital stays, she would get up and be straight on the door of the ward and assume, ‘I’m higher now, let’s go residence and let’s get on with life.’
“It has actually given energy to me and my spouse for what we’re doing now as a result of all of the limitations she had all through her complete life, she by no means as soon as let it outline her and for me to have that energy now could be large.”
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