Fern Urquhart
Join Fern Fight Against Myasthenia!
Fundraising for Myaware - Fighting Myasthenia Together
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving
page.
Soooo... here goes!
7 years ago I was diagnosed with a debilitating auto-immune disease - Myasthenia Gravis. I couldn't speak, swallow, chew, brush my hair, push myself out of bed, hold onto things or even smile. It consumed my life and my thoughts every day. I was in and out of hospital, put on drips, put on lots of drugs with horrible side effects – weight gain, acne and I really struggled both mentally and physically - and sometimes still do.
I still live with this disease every single day, the symptoms and the side effects. It is always on my mind and I’m always worried when the symptoms are going to hit. But I have never once let it stop me from living my life; I completed four years at university, I moved to Glasgow, I travelled around Europe reaching 11 countries in 30 days, I moved to France, I completed a year at France Business School, I travelled on my own to Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, I jumped out of a plane, I climbed mountains, I jumped into lakes, rivers, oceans…to name but a few things!
And now, I want to do more…
I'm going to run in the Great Scottish Run (10K) with my mum and some of our best friends, Noan and the wonderful Cook family to raise money for the Myasthenia charity - MyAware.
10K might not be much for some people but it’s a big deal for me because only a couple of years ago I physically couldn't run a few paces without my legs feeling like they were going to collapse beneath me!
BUT, I would have never been able to do all these things and live my life so fully without the research, information and support from medical professionals and the MyAware charity.
Myasthenia is rare, hard to diagnose and lacks awareness. It is only diagnosed in 3 - 30 people per million a year. So more awareness is needed so that more people suffering from something they know nothing about can get help and answers.
I didn’t even know how to say it when I was diagnosed never mind what it was or what I needed to do to get better. But thankfully there is some information online but still not enough. More research needs to be done so that we can get closer to curing an ‘incurable disease’ and helping people diagnosed with Myasthenia live life to the fullest and not let a diagnosis define them or their lives.
The more money we raise, the more awareness we can create and the more people will get the answers they need. But also, as equally important, the more money raised the more research that can be done into auto-immune diseases, myasthenia, and exciting new studies which will help lead to finding a cure.
So if you are able to spare any £/€/$'s, I would be so eternally grateful to you. I would appreciate it so much if you could help me raise money so we can raise awareness, so we can get closer to a cure and so we can give anyone suffering from Myasthenia a brighter and more positive future.
Thank you and love love love you all. Fern, Janice & Noan. X
(If you want to read more about my journey here is a blog a wrote about living with an 'incurable' auto-immune disease.. https://medium.com/@fernurquhart/living-with-an-incurable-auto-immune-disease-10b11fb833c3)
(Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.)
page.
Soooo... here goes!
7 years ago I was diagnosed with a debilitating auto-immune disease - Myasthenia Gravis. I couldn't speak, swallow, chew, brush my hair, push myself out of bed, hold onto things or even smile. It consumed my life and my thoughts every day. I was in and out of hospital, put on drips, put on lots of drugs with horrible side effects – weight gain, acne and I really struggled both mentally and physically - and sometimes still do.
I still live with this disease every single day, the symptoms and the side effects. It is always on my mind and I’m always worried when the symptoms are going to hit. But I have never once let it stop me from living my life; I completed four years at university, I moved to Glasgow, I travelled around Europe reaching 11 countries in 30 days, I moved to France, I completed a year at France Business School, I travelled on my own to Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, I jumped out of a plane, I climbed mountains, I jumped into lakes, rivers, oceans…to name but a few things!
And now, I want to do more…
I'm going to run in the Great Scottish Run (10K) with my mum and some of our best friends, Noan and the wonderful Cook family to raise money for the Myasthenia charity - MyAware.
10K might not be much for some people but it’s a big deal for me because only a couple of years ago I physically couldn't run a few paces without my legs feeling like they were going to collapse beneath me!
BUT, I would have never been able to do all these things and live my life so fully without the research, information and support from medical professionals and the MyAware charity.
Myasthenia is rare, hard to diagnose and lacks awareness. It is only diagnosed in 3 - 30 people per million a year. So more awareness is needed so that more people suffering from something they know nothing about can get help and answers.
I didn’t even know how to say it when I was diagnosed never mind what it was or what I needed to do to get better. But thankfully there is some information online but still not enough. More research needs to be done so that we can get closer to curing an ‘incurable disease’ and helping people diagnosed with Myasthenia live life to the fullest and not let a diagnosis define them or their lives.
The more money we raise, the more awareness we can create and the more people will get the answers they need. But also, as equally important, the more money raised the more research that can be done into auto-immune diseases, myasthenia, and exciting new studies which will help lead to finding a cure.
So if you are able to spare any £/€/$'s, I would be so eternally grateful to you. I would appreciate it so much if you could help me raise money so we can raise awareness, so we can get closer to a cure and so we can give anyone suffering from Myasthenia a brighter and more positive future.
Thank you and love love love you all. Fern, Janice & Noan. X
(If you want to read more about my journey here is a blog a wrote about living with an 'incurable' auto-immune disease.. https://medium.com/@fernurquhart/living-with-an-incurable-auto-immune-disease-10b11fb833c3)
(Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.)