Manchester Neurosurgeon tackles Tough Mudder for charity supporting patients

A Consultant Neurosurgeon from Royal Manchester Children's Hospital is swapping her scrubs for a muddy obstacle course this weekend in aid of a charity which supports many of her young patients.

Deborah Ferguson is raising funds for Harry's Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust (Harry's HAT), a charity set up to help children and families affected by paediatric hydrocephalus; the most common reason for brain surgery in childhood.

The condition is characterised by an excessive build-up of fluid on the brain which, if left untreated, can be fatal. Early diagnosis of the condition is vital to ensure the best outcomes for patients.

Miss Ferguson told us she's been working hard on her physical fitness for the last year and is now ready to take a 15K Tough Mudder challenge: "I wanted to raise money for Harry‘s HAT because as a neurosurgeon we value the work the charity does to raise awareness nationally for hydrocephalus. I also wanted to support their Get-A-Head campaign - measuring children’s heads more regularly is a very simple, pain free but worthwhile step in hydrocephalus diagnosis and management in babies and infants."

The Get-A-Head campaign was initially launched to raise awareness of how important head circumference measurements can be in the detection of paediatric hydrocephalus. An unusually large or rapidly growing head is sometimes one of the only symptoms of the condition in infancy.

In the UK, babies are routinely offered two head measurements in the first two months of their lives, but this falls far behind the monitoring offered in many other countries. As a result, the charity's Get-A-Head campaign is now lobbying the government for a review of medical guidelines in the hope that more measurements will be added to the routine monitoring of babies here.

As a neurosurgeon, Miss Ferguson's day job sees her working under immense pressure - operating on some of the most vulnerable in society, but she believes there are some comparisons in the challenge ahead: "There are some skills that are needed for this that we also use in neurosurgery. They include hard work, determination, team work, making plans and sometimes adjusting plans when it doesn’t work out, to overcome the obstacles."

If you would like to support Deborah's Tough Mudder you can find out more here.