Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am running for SPARKS in the London Marathon 2011 for my youngest daughter Aimee.  In 2010 she was diagnosed with Turners Syndrome.  This is a cradle to grave illness which only affects girls and is more common than people realise but is often not recognised until girls growth starts to slow down and eventually completely stops.  Through many hospital visits over the last 12 months, we are pleased to say she has now grown 8cms with the help of injections which Aimee has every day. She will not naturally enter pubity due to having no ovaries and later will be given oestrogen tablets to promote the growth of her female organs but probably not until she is 14-15 years old otherwise this will further stunt her growth.  She has many psychological problems which are improving over time but we fear this will return as her friends all begin to develop and she doesn't.  Otherwise, although she has full blown Turner Syndrome, rather than Mosaic where only part of the chromosome is missing, we are incredibly lucky as there could have been so many more complications.  She has other medical problems but they are all controlled by medication and we thank our lucky stars we have such a "happy girl" girl who gives more love than you can imagine.

The sad thing is that many people are not made aware of conditions such as these until they are older, when some tests can be done during pregnancy and at birth.  If she had been diagnosed at birth, she would have been having injections for 12 years and would probably have grown to near that of her peers.  That said, she is loved by all her friends and is a very popular girl in her school.

 

If you have a girl and are at all concerned about their height, do not take "no" from the doctor and push to see a specialist.  We did exactly this, without pushing for help, she would have "been swept under the carpet" as "just being a short girl" until much later and her height would have been stunted even more than it is today.

The reason I decided to run for SPARKS is that their vision is a world where all babies are given the best possible start in life and where a medical condition or disability at birth is not a barrier to opportunity and fulfilment.

 

Please please help others like Aimee and those with even more serious medical conditions get the best start in life by donating as little or much as possible.

The aim of SPARKS is to achieve this by funding high quality medical research that is intended to have a practical and positive effect on the lives of children.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you so much for visiting and your much needed help in these hard times.

 

Duane