11 year old from Coppull Adam Moss to raise funds for Alder Hey Hospital which treated him for meningitis

To mark the tenth anniversary being free of meningitis, 11-year-old Adam Moss, who attends Saint Oswald's Catholic Primary School, will be walking from his home in Coppull, Chorley, to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool on Good Friday and Easter Saturday to raise funds for the hospital who treated him when he was a sick baby.

On February 1, 2012, Adam became very unwell when he was just 14 months.

He was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia (meningitis) - (an inflammation of the lining of your brain and spinal cord, left untreated can be very serious) and after emergency treatment at Preston, was transferred to Alder Hey where he spent over a week in PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit), a few days in High Dependency and then was moved onto a ward.

After two weeks in hospital, despite having been very poorly, Adam was well enough to come home again.

Proud father Matt, 41, said: "Adam was in the hospital for under two weeks where he was ventilated, sedated and placed in the Intensive Care Unit.

"He lost a small amount off the tip of his right thumb but it could have been a whole lot worse."

"We have been blown away with the amount of donations we have received. We initially set a target of £200 which has been well and truly smashed. We have friends and colleagues whose children have also received exceptional care from Alder Hey."

"Our route on day one has been planned in order to take in Adam’s grandparents’ house in Standish and his grandma’s house in Wigan as they will be unable to come out on the walk with us.

"We estimate the total route to be around 25 miles but the weather may play a part in altering that. We will be tracking it so will have accurate numbers at the end of each day."

The Performing Arts Teacher at Runshaw College added: "There is a lot of talk about vaccines at the minute, but had the B Vaccine for meningitis, which only became available in September 2015, been readily available earlier, then this could have been avoided.

"I would urge people get the vaccine as we have seen first hand what can happen

Adam said: "To say thank you, I would like to try to raise some money for the hospital.

"Any friends who are interested in getting involved, let us know."

To raise awareness of the killer disease he has set up a JustGiving page in which over £1,000 has been donated so far.

If you would like to donate to the JustGiving page CLICK HERE.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital conducts paediatric research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. It has research partners including the University of Liverpool and is a member of Liverpool Health Partners.

It conducts more than 100 clinical research studies on an ongoing basis, ranging from observation to clinical trials.

The hospital is within the National Institute for Health Research's Top 100 Performing Trust's for participation recruitment in 2013/14.

Alder Hey was the first hospital to test penicillin, save a child from pneumonia and establish a neonatal unit in the UK.