Jamilla Blake took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon raising xxx for RNOH Charity.

When Jamilla was 7, she came for life-saving spinal surgery at the RNOH. “I was referred to RNOH in 2011 after my local hospital found an unusual mass on my spine,” Jamilla explains. “This led to an incredibly rare, one-in-a-million diagnosis of an aneurysmal bone cyst. The cyst was growing at an alarmingly fast rate and wrapped around my spinal cord so I was unable to walk – it had to be removed as soon as possible.”

Brave Jamilla spent weeks on flat bed rest followed by months in full body plaster then a brace. “I spent a lot of time in and out of RNOH,” she says, “but I was finally signed off at the age of 18 with the operation having been a great success.”

Now 20, Jamilla took on her first half marathon in October!   “Without the amazing staff at RNOH, particularly my lead consultant Mr Kai Rezajooi, it was almost certain that I would have been paralysed, if I managed to survive at all".