David Spencer - Marathon Des Sables
Event: 27th Sultan Marathon Des Sables between 08/04/2012 and 15/04/2012
Team Members: David Spencer
£1,565.00 raised of £1,500.00 target
31 donations
My Target:
£1,500.00
£1,565.00 raised so far
How to make a donation
Donate online at - www.justgiving.com/DavidSpencer78
By mobile internet Scan this code on your smartphone to go straight to David Spencer's page.
By text message to donate £10 Text DDJQ70 £10
to 70070
My story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 100% of your donation goes to charity - it does not help me pay my £3500 entry. Yes the wife did go mental!!
What?
The Marathon des Sables (MdS, Marathon of the Sands, or Sahara Marathon) is a six-day, 156 mile ultra marathon which is the equivalent of six regular marathons. The longest single stage is 52 miles long. This multi day race is held every year in southern Morocco, in the Sahara desert. It is considered the toughest foot race on Earth. The first event of the Marathon started in 1986 and competitors must carry all personal belongings and food for the entire event. That is a lot of food for me! Water and tents are supplied by the organisers. The race is not without risk to personal injury and during one race, a competitior lost his way during a sand storm and wandered lost for more than 9 days, losing over 13 kgs of body weight. On the plus side only 2 people have ever died during the race.
For more information see:
http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php
Why?
My God daughter (Zoe Cameron) is very special. Most people say this who are raising money for charity but in this case she really is. Zoe is one of around 200 people in the UK with a rare condition called Moebius Syndrome.
Within 24 hours of her birth she stopped breathing twice whilst her mother was holding her and so she spent the first weeks of her life in a special baby care unit. We learned that she had a facial paralysis and poor muscle tone in her body. The right side of her face drooped, her tongue and mouth were paralysed, she was cross-eyed and unable to blink. She was fed through her stomach until the staff worked out how to seal her mouth; only then could her parents (Mark and Polly) feed her with a bottle. After an MRI scan it was confirmed that she did not have a brain tumour or fluid on her brain and that it was completely normal. However, what it did not explain was what her parents were up against.
Over the first few months of her life Zoe made little progress. She didn’t smile or show any facial recognition – heartbreaking for her parents. She couldn’t support her own head and eventually after tens of trips to various specialists in London she was diagnosed with Moebius Syndrome. She finally had a label. Her parents were told that the condition wouldn’t change or improve and as it was so rare they were advised to look on the internet. Disgraceful!
Moebius Syndrome has a number of symptoms – no eye movement and often cross eyed with an inability to close them or blink, facial paralysis, dribbling caused by the paralysis, choking, difficulties with speech and slow physical development, limb deformities, club feet and 30% chance of autism. Medically, little can be done for it other than some serious and invasive ‘smile surgery’. The one explanation for the syndrome is that it might be genetic but as no research has been done nobody can be sure. Her parents have not been advised how to care for her so they have just done what they thought is best. With some great help from the health visitor they have tried to address each of her issues in isolation and have also had some excellent paediatric physiotherapy and routine eye assessments in Oxford.
After all this something extraordinary began to happen. Zoe began to change and improve. She began to twitch the side of her mouth as if she were trying to smile, her eyes started to straighten and move. She eventually managed to sit unaided and none of the specialists have been able to explain this but she seems to be defying the medical knowledge of the condition.
So how is she now? She still dribbles and cannot smile properly and doesn’t have full movement in her eyes. At 2 and a half, she bosses her adoring big brother around, she eats and drinks like any other toddler and dances round the room and makes everyone laugh with her antics. Everyone is very proud of what she has achieved to date but no-one knows what causes Moebius Syndrome and that is why I am raising money. It could happen to any family and until research finds the cause we will never know how to cure it. The Moebius Research Trust need £250,000 to begin the work and this is where you can help by donating on my just giving page.
For more information on the charity see:
http://www.moebiusresearchtrust.org/
Thank you.
David
My gallery 1
My charity
Moebius Research Trust
Charity Registration No. SC037454
Moebius Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder which to date, has no cure. It affects primarily the 6th & 7th cranial nerves, which means that those with the condition are unable to move their faces (can't smile, frown, suck, grimace or blink eyes). We aim to raise £250,000 to fund research into the cause of Moebius.
Donations 31
Well done mate. You should be very proud of yourself.
Donation by Anonymous on 13/05/12
Congrats Matey, didn't think you had it in you ;-) .....I believe this donation has meant that you've reached your target, woo too high five.
Donation by Benjamin Norton on 08/05/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Donation by Anonymous on 29/04/12
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Congratulations mate. Great result and a very worthy cause. Best of luck meeting the target.
Donation by Aaron Best on 22/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Awesome run mate. I assume the only sand you'll want to see for the rest of the year is in James sandpit!
Donation by Mike on 16/04/12
Well Done...
Donation by Phil D on 16/04/12
£25.00
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Good luck from Sue, Steve and Gran! We'll be thinking of you,Dave.
Donation by Sue Ogden on 07/04/12
£80.00
+ £20.00 Gift Aid
good luck rhoda and gareth
Donation by rhoda jones on 06/04/12
£20.00
Good luck from L19.
Donation by The Spencers on 05/04/12
£140.00
+ £35.00 Gift Aid
good luck. Will be with you every step of the way.
Donation by Pat Spencer on 04/04/12
£100.00
+ £25.00 Gift Aid
Best of luck dave - have a great race!
Donation by Steve Knight on 04/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Good luck Dave I hope it all goes well x
Donation by Laura Appleby on 03/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Strong shout. All the best for the race.
Donation by Steve Davis on 29/03/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Donation by Anonymous on 15/03/12
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
David, all the very best from the Lindsleys.
Donation by Charles Lindsley on 08/03/12
£25.00
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Hi David Well done you. Very impressive to take on such a challenge. Keep safe and enjoy!.
Donation by victoria pascoe on 16/02/12
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Best of luck mate.
Donation by Colin Northridge on 15/02/12
You are as mad as a box of biscuits....good luck.
Donation by darren wrintmore on 08/02/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Incredible effort, good luck!
Donation by Jeni Hall on 07/02/12
£35.00
+ £8.75 Gift Aid
Donation by Andrew Lothian on 06/02/12
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Good luck
Donation by Anonymous on 31/01/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Hi Dave. Enjoy the race, your cause will be all the motivation you need when it gets tough. Chris
Donation by chris mcgonnell on 28/01/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Good luck Spence, a big challenge and a worthwhile cause.
Donation by Laura Smith on 26/01/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Good luck Spence, great cause!
Donation by Martyn Potter on 26/01/12
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Great cause and good race card; best of luck.
Donation by Clifford Kamara on 25/01/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Donation summary
- * Online donations£1,565.00
- Offline donations£0.00
- Text donations£0.00
- Total raised£1,565.00
- Gift Aid£378.75
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
