Our life-changing journey began nearly 18 months ago on a cold, rainy April morning, with a 3 mile run that felt like 10 and seemed to last forever.  Since then many of you have shared in our journey, whether through words of encouragement, support, even joining us on our runs sometimes,  and every moment (while not always exciting) has been meaningful to us.  After 378  run days, 1470 miles, 7 pairs of running shoes each, and alot of blood, sweat and tears, what began with that 3 mile run nearly 2 yrs ago will finally reach its peak, when on October 11, Eric and I will be running the Chicago Marathon on behalf of the Meningitis Research Foundation.  So many of you have taken part in this journey with us, and now you can help support us one more time, and support a great cause too.

The Meningitis Research Foundtion's mission is to fund research to prevent meningitis and septicaemia, improve survival rates and outcomes. They promote education and awareness to reduce death and disability, and give support to people affected.  We'll be running to raise money for the foundation, so it would be awesome if you could donate a little bit to the cause.

Meningitis Research Foundation is based in the and estimates that there are around 3,500 cases of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia every year in the and .  This means that every day nine people become ill with the diseases.  With one in ten people dying, a death will occur almost every day. A further two people will be left with life-altering after effects as severe as brain damage, deafness and multiple amputations.   The highest burden of meningitis in the world is in the Meningitis Belt of sub-Saharan , where epidemics can strike up to a quarter of a million people in a single year, with tens of thousands of deaths. Which is why we feel that the Meningitis Research Foundation is such an important organization.

Every little bit helps, so no matter how much you can donate, it would mean so much to us if you did. Here's some legalish mumbo jumbo about how making a donation on-line works "All donations are secure and sent directly to the Meningitis Research Foundation by Justgiving, who will email you a printable record of your donation."

Thank you for your support. Please send my page on to anyone who might like to donate! If you have any questions about the work of the Meningitis Research Foundation, please do not hesitate to email them at info@meningitis.org.

FYI:  The donation page is based in the UK, so donations are in GBP.  For the math challenged like me :-), here are some currency conversion rates as of 8/14/09.  For current rates, you can check out  www.xe.com/ucc/ type in the amount in dollars you would like to donate and it will tell you what that equals in pounds. 

                                                                          $1       =          0.604958 £

                                                                         $5        =          3.02427 £

                                                                         $10      =          6.04793 £

                                                                          $15      =          9.07190 £

                                                                           $25      =          15.1198 £