Hi! 

Firstly, thank you for even glancing at this page; even if you don't donate, the fact you've considered it in the first place speaks volumes about your character.

The world needs more people like you.

And the world needs more people like my amazing partner Jasmine. 

Jasmine was just 10 years old when she was first diagnosed with Crohns disease - a type of inflammatory bowel disease that is a lot more than just needing to use the toilet a lot. It causes agonising pain, social anxiety, a massive reduction of appetite and the association of hunger with pain. 

Could you imagine your stomach and bowels rolling and twisting and convulsing? Sending tremendous shockwaves of hellish pain throughout your entire body?

Jasmine has always been an advocate for raising awareness of the disease and can craft much finer words than I regarding the subject. She runs a blog on her experience (www.wordpress.com/hildaandme) and an Instagram page for her beloved Stanley the Stoma (@stanleythestoma). I strongly urge just reading and looking at these pages, more so than donating to this cause.

I met Jasmine in November 2016 and was instantly besotted. I had read her blog beforehand so I was already aware of her Crohns and researched extensively before our first date, but the real life faces behind the words you read on a Wikipedia article paint an entirely different picture of this debilitating disease. At the time Jas was taking countless pills to manage pain the the symptoms of Crohns. She was only just starting to regrow her hair after a course of humuria caused scabs to form on her scalp and her hair to fall out in clumps. 

But by Christ she was/is the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

Two days after officially becoming a couple, Jas was rushed into hospital suffering the worst Crohns flare-up she has ever had. She could not eat. She could not move (save to writhe in pain). I watched weight fall off her. Her skin turn pale and her eyes lifeless as a result of the painkillers she was constantly fed just to slightly alleviate her agony. She lost a lot of blood going to the toilet - even passing out at her worst. She was constantly vomiting and spent entire days asleep when the morphine was required.

Jas spent an entire month in hospital in this state. I visited every single day and saw how this invisible, terrible disease was wrecking havoc on her body and her mind.

Thankfully the month culminated in an ileostomy, the removal of the large intestine and redirection of bowel through the abdominal wall, leaving Jasmine with Stanley the stoma and an ostomy bag that would change her life forever.

The ostomy bag gave Jasmine a completelynew life but she is still not free of the shadow that Crohns casts over such a bright star. It still causes her pain, lowers her immune system - making her suseptable to a whole host of other ailments. The great increase in risk of cancer is but one to mention.

Nothing I can ever do will match the strength and determination Jas has demonstrated even as a child but, in one small act, I hope to raise awareness of a disease I would not have known to exist if it weren't for falling in love with a crohnie.

I propose to continue to grow, and then shave, my hair for this wonderful charity that helps so many silent sufferers and to raise awareness (at the very least!) to make those with Crohn's, Colitis or IBD more comfortable discussing poo!

Anyone who knows me knows how attached (no pun intended) I am to my beard, so, if I reach £200, I will shave my head and my beard in its entirety. 

Any amount - even a pound, can help a child just like Jas was, or an adult like she is.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.