A LONDON marathon runner says he owes his life to a special care baby unit in Oxford.

The Silver Star Baby Unit is a special intensive care unit at John Radcliffe Hospital for high-risk-pregnancy mothers.

It delivers around 500 babies a year, with many mums from Swindon having to make the journey, for those with serious conditions that could cause complications, including heart or kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or women who have had repeated miscarriages.

Daniel Mosley, 29, born in Swindon and works in London in the civil service, says he owes his and his whole family's life to the unit.

He told the Adver: "Without them I wouldn't be here and my brother wouldn't be here - I wouldn't have a family otherwise, that's why it's important to me.

"I've done a few things for them over the years, but this is the biggest thing so far.

"I know how important the high-risk areas are, they deal with a lot of the worst cases."

Daniel's mum Jan was considered high-risk because she had a kidney transplant when she was nine and doctors at the time were unsure of its affect on her during the birth.

He added: "Both me and my brother were nine and eight weeks early, if it was in anywhere else it probably wouldn't have happened, it was touch and go at some points.

"But that's why I'm still here and I've got nothing wrong with me.

"Mum says she's in some medical journals because she was one of the first child transplants that was successful, and they didn't know how long she could take immune suppressants for.

"Nowadays this kind of birth would be no problem, but back in the early 90s it was uncertain.

"You never know the organs are going to work, because they can be old when they go in."

For Jan's 40th anniversary of her life-saving transplant in 2016 Daniel and Greg raised more than £2,000 for the National Kidney Federation by doing half marathons and cake sales.

For training Daniel has already done the Reading Half Marathon - finishing in under the two hour mark - and has been getting used to the mileage by doing regular runs of up to 10 miles.

"The training has been going well," he added, "It's a bit mind blowing that I'm doing twice that next month."

The fundraiser has passed the £500 mark but Daniel is aiming to hit £1,500 before the 26-mile race on April 28.

The unit is currently aiming to buy six CTG monitors to detect problems with unborn babies early on.

They have successfully raised £25,000 to buy four monitors but need help to buy another two monitors to provide the best care possible for mums.