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This year I have decided to enter the BUPA Great Birmingham Run (half marathon) and to try and raise some much-needed money for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (NACC). Crohn’s and Colitis UK is the working name for the registered charity. Their good work is little-known by the general public because the conditions themselves can be embarrassing to talk about.
Some of you may be surprised to learn that I have not run a half marathon before now. There are two good reasons for that: 1) I never thought I could run that far, 2) To run a half marathon requires a considerable amount of training runs, unless you are exceptionally lucky and can just get up on a Sunday morning and run 13.1 miles! If you still can’t visualise how far that is it would be like running from my home in Pelsall to Birmingham city centre.
This may be a charity that many of you have not heard of before so I will explain a little. After many unpleasant tests and examinations my sister, Michelle, was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) in 2006. I will be totally honest and say up until then it was something I had never heard of and knew nothing about. However, I now know a lot more about this condition.
Colitis and Crohn’s are inflammatory bowel diseases, which last a lifetime and for which there is no known cure. They can strike at any age but young people are most at risk. Around 240,000 people across the UK have these conditions. Symptoms include relentless diarrhoea, bleeding, severe pain, exhaustion and, in the case of children, impaired growth. In addition, UC can cause inflammation in the eyes, skin and joints. Unsurprisingly, the conditions can have a devastating impact on education, work, social and family life.
Michelle has tried various treatments and drugs to control this condition, some with more success than others. She regularly seems to suffer periods where she is unwell and, as she likes to be active and work regular hours, this can be very frustrating. Her primary treatment currently involves a drug taken via intravenous infusion - i.e. directly into the bloodstream. This cannot be taken in tablet/oral form. The IV infusion needs to be repeated about once every two months. This treatment is only used as the medicine of last resort - mainly due to its expense. It is therefore only used when other medications have failed. After this, the only option is surgery. The future funding of this drug cannot be guaranteed and Michelle’s review is next April.
NACC is the major UK charity offering support to people affected through helplines, newsletters, information booklets, local community groups and a website. NACC also campaigns for better healthcare and funds vital research
If you wish to find out more detail please take a look at the following link
http://www.nacc.org.uk/content/home.asp
Myself and Michelle would be really happy and smiley it if you could dig deep and donate now.
P.S. The run is being televised on Channel 5. If by chance you watch any of it then good luck spotting me amongst 15000 runners !
