SHE ran the OX5 Run last year after her four-year-old son received top quality care from staff at Oxford's Children's Hospital.

And this year Jo Martin is putting on her running trainers again after nurses and doctors on the same ward helped her 18-month-old daughter back to full health after she suffered viral pneumonia last year.

The mother-of-two said she wanted to raise cash for the children's hospital again after the 'amazing' help her children received to make them 'happy and healthy'.

The 30-year-old added: "We have a lot to thank for the children's hospital. It's an amazing facility.

"They have given us amazing care. We are very lucky to have the hospital on our doorstep."

Mrs Martin's son Harry spent a week in the hospital as a two-year-old after doctors diagnosed the symptoms of Kawasaki disease - which causes blood vessels to become inflamed and swollen - and treated them before it could lead to a long-term heart problem.

A year later the Tesco worker's daughter, Isabelle, was put on oxygen for three days to stabilise her breathing after she contracted viral pneumonia from a chest infection.

Mrs Martin, who leaves near Faringdon, said her daughter's oxygen reading dropped to about 80 - the average is about 90 - meaning there was not enough in her bloodstream.

She added: "We were in the same ward Harry has stayed in and I was able to stay overnight.

"As a result of the work they do my children are happy and healthy."

Mrs Martin will be supported by husband Jamie, also 30, at the finish line in the beautiful grounds of Blenheim Palace on March 26.

She is balancing her three-days a week at work with her training schedule at her home which is on a farm off the A417 between Faringdon and Stanford in the Vale.

She said: "It was lovely last year, the sun was shining and it was really nice and warm.

"It's all for an amazing cause."

Money from the OX5 Run will go towards more toys and games and will also feed into the hospital's tenth anniversary appeal for more outdoor play areas and a new 62-bedroom Ronald McDonald House facility.

The event is being sponsored by recruitment firm Allen Associates for the ninth year.

Last year's run saw a record-breaking £115,000 raised, which has already been spent on a sensory room to educate and entertain children in its high dependency unit, equipment to stabilise premature babies and a specialist nurse for children with severe asthma.