Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
I want to tell you a bit more about why I am running for The National Autistic Society. Last year my 5 year old nephew Jake was diagnosed with severe autism. It was a relief in a way to find out what was wrong with him as we knew something was not right. Jake was basically mute and would have violent tantrums seemingly out of the blue. Once we had the diagnosis I was desperate to find out more, which is when I discovered The National Autistic Society. Their website was amazing, just full of information on Autism and where to get help.
You can sometimes feel quite alone when dealing with a child with autism. So many people are ignorant to the condition and when Jake has tantrums in the street he gets stared at and some people even pass comment. The Autistic society aim to raise the profile of Autism so that it can be better understood and accepted. They work with both children and adults with the condition and their families. They provide a free helpline for parents to speak to other parents of Autistic children, they offer a befriending service too where wonderful volunteers go around and offer support to people with autism or their siblings. This is incredibly important as autistic people find it very hard normally to be accepted by society and so end up leading a very sad existence.
Jake started attending a special school for autism in January this year and since then he has been like a different child. He actually speaks to us now. Not full sentances but he can name all his colours, count to 10, name all of his siblings and other such random things. This may not sound that impressive to you for a 5 year old, but remember this time last year he was mute. Every new word he comes out with is greeted with applause and praise by us! We don't know what the future holds for Jake. The one thing I do know is that as long as the The National Autistic Society is around we won't have to face the future alone.
Please, please, please help me give something back to this amazing charity. Any amount no matter how small will mean the world to me.
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So please dig deep and donate now.
