Story
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">Ok, so first things first. Why am I running a marathon?.....</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Encephalopathy)</span></strong><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;"> is a chronic, fluctuating illness. It is also known as <strong><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).</span></strong> Sometimes it is diagnosed as <strong><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS)</span></strong>. The illness affects many parts of the body, such as the nervous and immune systems. </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">It is estimated that there are up to <strong><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">250,000</span></strong> <strong><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">people with M.E.</span></strong> in the UK. It can affect men, women and children of all ages and from all social and ethnic groups. It seems to be more common to develop the illness between your early twenties and mid-forties.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">In 2004 I was diagnosed with ME and had to learn to come to terms with some of symptoms that are associated with the condition (severe fatigue & muscle pain). Basically I went from someone who played alot of sport and had a busy social life to someone with the same energy levels as someone who had been drinking constantly for days, with no sleep. </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">I have been lucky and managed to get the illness under control to the point I can lead a relatively normal life (well in public anyway), but still have to manage what I do in my life and so socialising and sport are kept to a minimum and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spend a lot of time having to rest. Although the resting bit sounds good, for anyone who is sporty and gets an injury and has to sit around you will know how frustrating this can be.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">I have always wanted to do the London Marathon and now I have the chance I want to be able to give something back to charity that has been there for me through some bad times and helped not just me but my friends and family come to terms with the illness and what effect it can have on people. </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">I'm not going to paste the contents from the 'about us' page in the Action for ME site but please go ahead and read it by clicking on this link <a href="http://www.afme.org.uk/aboutus.asp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.afme.org.uk/aboutus.asp</span></a>.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 5pt 6pt 6pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11.5pt;">I have been lucky in that although I will always have M.E I am still able to give something back by running this marathon, This will probably be the hardest thing I will do in my life (try to picture how you will feel running the marathon after a weekend of none stop drinking) So please, even in these dark times dig deep and donate now</span></p>
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