My Story

Hello!

My name is Jeff, and I am running the London Marathon to raise money for  deaf students at the Mary Hare School, a specialist UK state school for deaf children  

I have two lovely daughters, Maya and Emma. My older daughter Maya is deaf. She was born with normal hearing, but started losing her hearing at age 4, and is now profoundly deaf. She used to wear hearing aids, and now has cochlear implants in both ears.

Maya went to a traditional primary school where she was the only deaf student, and she struggled not only to keep up with her hearing peers, but also with her sense of identity. As she entered secondary in Year 7, she enrolled at the Mary Hare School, a specialist state school for deaf children. Here she has discovered the deaf community, deaf culture, and has learned how to excel with her deafness, not in spite of it.

The Mary Hare School has a customised sound system used in classrooms that students can connect into with their hearing aids or cochlear implants. This system is aging and in need of refurbishment, and my fundraising efforts are contributing towards these critical improvements.

Thank you for your consideration.