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In May 2017 my husband Patrick was diagnosed with a rare, very serious and life limiting disease called Amyloidosis.

Amyloid is a natural protein produced by the liver which for some unknown reason suddenly starts to mutate and collect on the main organs preventing them from working. It is incredibly difficult to diagnose because it can affect multiple parts of the body and presents as a whole host of general symptoms which on their own are insignificant. As the illness progresses, it is often misdiagnosed as something else, such as: heart, liver, kidney and spleen disease, neuropathy, fatigue, unexplained weight loss etc. but normal treatments for those conditions do not work and the patients health continues to decline.

There are different types of Amyloidosis (a bit like there are different types of cancer) and Patrick has been diagnosed with systemic, hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR). There is no licensed treatment or cure for Amyloidosis and life expectancy is poor.

Up until May we had never heard of this disease, and there is still so much to learn about it. As it becomes easier to diagnose it may not be quite as rare as it is now. So the point of doing the Bath Half is to raise awareness of this terrible disease and to ask for sponsorship to help raise funds towards research into diagnosis, treatments and ultimately a cure.

I am running The Bath Half Marathon with my dear friend Katie Lake on Sunday 4th March 2018 and we will be raising funds for the UCL 'Amyloidosis Research Fund'.

I know Christmas has just been and gone, but if you have a few pounds left over and you want to put them to a very good, worthwhile cause, please sponsor us, we'd be so grateful and every pound donated will certainly drive us to finish line!

In the meantime, Patrick is being cared for and closely monitored by the National Amyloid Centre (NAC) at The Royal Free Hospital, London (plus a few other hospitals in London, Salisbury and Southampton). NAC are an International Centre of Excellence and are developing new methods of diagnosing the disease, and carrying out research into treatments and cures. The staff and doctors are fabulous and give us hope that in the not too distant future, the outlook for Patrick, and all other Amyloidosis patients won't be quite so bleak, so every pound donated will make a difference.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for your very kind donation.

Trish