Hello!!

My name is Marcus Allen and I am 2 years old. My Mummy and Daddy tell me I am very special as I was born with a very rare metabolic condition called AADC (Aromatic Amino Acid Decarboxylase Deficiency). I am one of approximately 73 in the world!

You are all probably wondering what this condition is? To keep it simple my body has trouble producing the brain chemical “Dopermine”. Everybody needs this chemical to do everyday tasks such as walking. Without this chemical the messages from our brain can’t reach to where they want go to.

I am 2 year old little boy who wants to do what all my friends are doing at Nursery . Due to my condition I become tired quickly and suffer from hypotonia which means my body posture is floppy for my age. I take a lot of medication to try and replace the chemical in my body and in time I am hoping I will become stronger so I can walk one day!

The charity The AADC Research Trust need your help. We need to keep raising money to help the doctors with their research in hope that they will find a more effective way to treat children with this life threatening condition.

My Daddy and his friends are running the Belfast Relay Marathon in hope that they will raise lots of money for the AADC charity. I would be so grateful if you could sponsor them. Please help to make a rare child healthy.

I have just found out that Daddy's friend Rab McEwan is running the full marathon which is geat news!!