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So please dig deep and donate now but let me introduce myself & explain, who you are donating to & why.

My name is Phil Taylor I am 45 years old & live in Pevensey Bay with my gorgeous wife Mel & my two beautiful daughters Danielle17 & Beth15, where we own & run Ocean View Bakery & Restaurant in the Bay for the past 6 years which we love & all the locals adore. Apart from work & family my passion is running & I run at least three times a week. I also try to run a marathon at least twice a year & I have run approximately 11-12 marathons so far. I have also ran for charity previously running for "Get Kids Going" in New York & running the London Marathon for a young girl called Chloe Wright raising money for cancer & running the Beachy Head Marathon for Jaden Fund for MS & Down Syndrome. My marathon running has taken me all over the country & abroad & I have competed at Beachy Head in East Sussex, Hastings in East Sussex, Benidorm, London, DisneyLand USA, Las Vegas & New York. I have so many more ambitions marathon-wise that I want to achieve, personal best times I want to achieve, & ultimate marathons I want to run such as the Boston marathon & of course the first ever Brighton marathon. 

Now the question many of you will be asking is who are the Dystonia Society & what is Dystonia?

Please don't be embarrassed to ask the above I like you had no idea what Dystonia is or what the Dystonia Society do & now is the perfect time to introduce you to the reason for doing this.

My name is Nicola I am 36 years old & single living in Pevensey Bay. I have been friend's with Phil & Mel now for just over 3 years since moving to the Bay & eating in their gorgeous restaurant. I was sadly diagnosed with Hemi-Dystonia in 2005, despite having the condition since 1997 & being undiagnosed since then, the condition affects 40,000 people & there sadly is no known cure. There are many forms of Dystonia & each affects the sufferer in its own individual way. The condition affects me in the following way, it will cause paralysis, muscle spasms/contortions & UNBEARABLE pain on the left-hand side of my body. From 1997-1999 I was in a wheelchair because my left leg was totally paralysed, twisted & contorted, suffering from severe muscle spasms & 24/7 UNBEARABLE pain. I was told I would NEVER EVER walk again but despite all the odds & against everything my Professor, Doctors & Consultants said, believed & documented I battled for many, many, many months to regain the use of my legs & learnt to walk again from scratch & despite it being a long, hard & painful process I did it & defied all the odds. However in 2001 I lost the use of my left hand & arm & in 2005 was finally diagnosed with the condition Hemi-Dystonia at Kings College Hospital & sadly I was also told that my leg which I thought was 100% cured was infact part of this condition & was infact only in remission & can & will relapse at anytime, so I live in fear of that now. Infact any part of my body on my left-hand side can be affected by this condition. I am medically retired for life from the career I adore as a Legal PA & Legal Litigation Executive & it has many effects on my day to day living, eating & sleeping. Currently my hand & arm is paralysed & has been since 2001. My hand is clenched permanently in a tight fight & contorted, & suffers from severe muscle spasms & I am in UNBEARABLE 24/7 pain taking eleven different strong painkilling medications & receiving Morphine 24/7 for pain too & I am under the care of a team of three Neurologists at Kings College Hospital London who I visit every 3 months for Botulinium Toxin injections, care, treatment & one to one advice, support & medication, the team that look after me at Kings College mean a lot to me & they are the ones who when I needed help the most pointed me in the direction of the Dystonia Society to be there in addition to themselves & they were everything I needed them to be when my world had just caved in & I had just been diagnosed with an incurable Neurological condition. Recently I took part in the Hyde Park 5K Challenge raising £780 for the Dystonia Society along with my sister. I wanted to do the challenge while I can still walk because I do live everyday with the fear that my leg is only in remission & can relapse & will today be the day so I want to give as much back as I can to the Dystonia Society who are a godsend to me & people like me living with Dystonia & our families. I was put in touch with the Dystonia Society by Kings College Hospital when I was diagnosed to help me understand my condition & to offer support & literature. I don't know what I would have done without them in the beginning & still even now. They offer literature, a membership scheme to a quarterly newsletter full of vital information, yearly invite to a conference attended by leading Professors, Scientists, Consultants, Doctors & speakers, helpful grants to assist Dystonia sufferers, Dystonia merchandise & a helpline for sufferers & families to call to seek advice or just seek comforting words or help plus so much more. The Dystonia Society is a small charity relying solely on charitable donations to help the 40,000 sufferers of this incurable disease to raise money for future research, awareness, funding for the following: clinics, Botulinium Toxin Injections, helpline assistants & vital medical research funding to hopefully one day find a cure. So that is all about me & my illness & who the Dystonia Socity are.

Now Nicola has introduced herself & explained what Dystonia is & how it affects her & who the Dystonia Society are & how they help I want to explain why I am doing this for her in my own words.

I first met Nikki a couple of years ago when she came into our bakery & restaurant with her family for a meal. I got talking to her & her former boyfriend Scott who it turned out was a runner himself, Nikki & Scott were admiring my marathon medals & we got chatting as they had their lunch. At that time I had no idea that Nikki had Dystonia or for that matter what Dystonia was as it was a disorder that I had never heard of, & like the majority of people I was probably ignorant of the fact that such a disorder existed.

When I first met Nikki she came across as a very friendly & likeable young lady & we got on really well from the start.. Nikki often came into see us for coffee or lunch & we would chat about anything, thats when when she told me about Dystonia& how it affected her life so far. She gave me some information on Dystonia that I distributed around the restaurant so that other people would be aware of it. I have run many marathons & probably half of them for were for charity, so when I mentioned to Nikki that I had a place in the Brighton Marathon & was running just for the fun of running she asked if I would run for Dystonia & help raise some money for the society. I immediately said yes not only to raise money but to try & make people more aware of Dystonia & the effects it has on people like Nikki. As this is the first Brighton Marathon it may well be hard going but at the point when I'm having doubts about finishing or I'm struggling to put one leg in front of the other & my calf muscles are screaming at me to stop & walk, I know that there will will be one thing that will keep me going & that's the smiling face of Nikki.

No matter what what she has been through whenever I see her she ALWAYS has that warm happy smile upon her face. 

Whatever has happened in my life pales into insignificance to what has & may happen to Nikki in the future, & I know that running the Brighton Marathon will be a pleasure & an honour to run for someone as brave & courageous as Nikki, & when I cross the finish line my first thought will be "this is for you Nikki".

                                                                                                                           Phil Taylor

So now all that is left to say is please please please from Phil & Nicola donate as much a you possibly can & please show your support to Phil who is doing something truly remarkable not only for me, but the Dystonia Society & all its members & everyone with Dystonia & raising vital awareness too. Your donations & support will really really mean a LOT & every penny raised will go to the Dystonia Society & every penny raised will go on to do so much good. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the money you kindly donate & all the support you give THANK YOU xxx

Lastly to Phil I cannot put into words how much it means to me what you are doing for me, for the Dystonia Society & to raise money & awareness for my illness for everyone living with Dystonia. I was & always will be SO touched, SO choked & SO proud & honoured by the BEAUTIFUL, TOUCHING & HEARTFELT letter you wrote above explaining why you wanted to run the Brighton Marathon for the Dystonia Society because of me, I will keep that letter & treasure it for always. It takes someone VERY VERY special to step up & say I would love to run 26 odd miles for you & your charity that's so dear to you to raise money & awareness for your illness & that is what you are. You are my hero, "Dystonia's Hero". You & your family & friends should be SO PROUD of you because I am & I am truly overwhelmed by what you are doing & it means the world to me & so do you for doing it. You are a GOOD friend & I will never ever be able to thank you enough for what you are doing for me I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart & health willing I will support you 100% to raise sponsorship & awareness prior to & after the marathon. Also health willing fingers crossed I will be there on marathon day on the sideline cheering you on every step of the way so you will hopefully see my smiling face for real to get you through those tough moments you mentioned & you know what you can bet your life I'll be smiling at the finish line when my & our "Dystonia Hero" crosses the line too & gets the cheers & medal he deserves.