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My name is Katie and I am running the Great North Run 2019 in memory of my mother. She died in June 2018 after a long illness called Huntington's Disease. My sister Holly has also recently been diagnosed with Juvenile Huntington's.  My aim is to raise awareness of this rare disease and raise money for the charity to fund research to help find a cure.

This disease devastates families all over the world. There is only around 12 people in every 100,000 people who suffer from this disease. There is no cure. All research is funded by donations from the public.

Scientists around the world are working hard to find a way to eliminate Huntington's Disease in the future, while looking at treatments to help with symptoms now.

Huntington's Disease is an illness caused by a faulty gene in your DNA, It affects your body's nervous system. It can cause changes with movement, learning, thinking and emotions.

Huntington's Disease is not something you can catch; it is inherited. Every child conceived naturally to a parent who carries the Huntington's gene has a 50% chance of inheriting it. It affects both men and women. It usually develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can start at any age. If symptoms start before the age of 20, this is called Juvenile Huntington's. 

Huntington's Disease can cause symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, depression, stumbling and clumsiness, personality changes, mood swings and involuntary movement's. These movement symptoms can often cause the sufferer to drop things, fall over and appear 'fidgety'. It can also cause slurred speech, along with this and the movement symptoms, people can sometimes be mistaken for being drunk.

This is why for me, it important for me make people aware of this illness. Please, spread the word and tell someone about Huntington's Disease. Every penny raised will go HDA to fund research to help find a cure.

More information can be found here: www.hda.org.uk