"I want to say thank you - doctors couldn't promise our daughter would live but she left hospital a week later"

It was a normal Saturday evening when Steph Buller’s 21-month-old daughter, Margot, suffered a complex seizure at home, last year.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Steph, from Rotherham.

After being rushed to Rotherham District General Hospital by paramedics, Margot’s seizure continued for over an hour and eventually she was put into an induced coma.

From there she was transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital’s intensive care unit, and the family was told to prepare for the possibility of Margot suffering long-term brain damage.

Miraculously, just a few days later, Steph and her husband were told their toddler would make a full recovery.

She said: “We went from being told on Saturday night that they couldn’t promise that our daughter would live, to being able to take our daughter home a week later with no long-term

effects.

“That is purely down to the fact that Rotherham and Sheffield worked so fast and they worked together.”

The mum determined then and there that she would do something to give back to the hospitals and Embrace transfer, the specialist pediatric ambulance which moved Margot between them.

In February 2025, just a few months after having her second daughter and one year on from Margot’s seizure, Steph began her challenge to run nearly 130km over five events this year.

The 33-year-old ran the Rother Valley Parkrun in February to tick off her 5km distance, quickly followed by the Wickersley 10km. Most recently, she finished the Sheffield half-marathon in March and the Leeds Marathon in May, despite scorching temperatures on the day.

Now she’s training for her biggest challenge yet: a 50km ultra-marathon in September.

She said: “It’s not just a physical challenge; it’s a deeply personal journey. Balancing family life and night feeds with long training runs has been tough.

“But I’m also looking forward to the challenge and trying to show just a shred of the resilience Margot has.”

Steph said Margot is the “happiest and healthiest toddler you can imagine” now and has made a full recovery since her febrile convulsion which was thought to have been brought on by the flu.

The mum has set up a fundraising page and is hoping to raise £1,000 for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity by the end of her challenges.

She said: “I’m purely doing this just to say thank you to the hospitals, and just to try and raise a bit of awareness of everything that these guys do.

“I feel more motivated than ever to give back to the hospitals that enabled us to enjoy life as a family of four and the teams who saved Margot’s life that night.”