In September 2013, I'm going to be trekking the Great Wall of China. This has always been a lifetime goal of mine, and thus will be an amazing personal achievement. To have the opportunity to do so whilst raising money for a very worthy charity gives me great incentive and encouragement to raise as much as is possible.

My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2003. Since then, it has negatively affected her day-to-day life in many ways. Her main symptoms include rigidity, slowness of movement, and slurred speech. As her Parkinson's continues to progress, so does her ever-increasing need for care and support.

Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition. One person in every 500 has Parkinson's. That's about 127,000 Parkinson's sufferers in the UK. Every hour, someone in the UK is told they have Parkinson's.There is currently no cure for Parkinson's.

This is not a site-seeing trip of China; it will require a rigorous eight-hour trek each day, where I will be required to lug around a heavy backpack in all manner of weather conditions. In order to increase my fitness levels to deal with this exhilarating challenge, I will be embracing a strict training regime with the help and support of both the staff at my local gym and my friends.

Despite the intense training required, I am really excited about the trek, and really looking forward to organising fundraising events to raise as much money as possible for Parkinson's UK. With the generous help of my employer, colleagues, family and friends, I am confident that I will more than meet my target.

I'd like to thank everyone who is supporting me through this; not only monetarily, but also on a personal level.

- Helen x