Hello Dear Family and Friends and thank you so much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 17th October 2016 at 12.14pm (approximately), I found out that I was one of five lucky (??) people to be chosen to run in the 2017 London Marathon for Ataxia UK.

Ataxia UK is a charity VERY close to my heart.  My lovely Mum Joanna was diagnosed with Ataxia seven years ago and this horrible condition has very quickly taken over every single aspect of her life.  Ataxia is the name given to a group of neurological disorders that affect balance, coordination, and speech. There are many different types of ataxia but specifically to Mum it has effected her speech, mobility and coordination. 

I don't really want to sugar coat it so to give you an idea, Mum can no longer walk unassisted and is 95% wheelchair dependent.  It's all the little things that we take for granted that Mum can no longer do or finds VERY challenging.  Her speech is incredibly slow and slurred and has become a real effort, Mum can no longer wash herself/dress herself and finds it very difficult to feed herself.  Mum now needs constant care and her deterioration over the last year in particular has been heart breaking to watch, especially when Mum broke her hip this summer, spending several weeks in hospital and missing my brother and her only son's wedding in Germany.

I know that you must get hundreds of charity requests all the time but Ataxia is a very small charity which received NO government funding so it really is a case that every penny helps fund research to find a cure for this horrible condition.

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.

Thank you so much in advance, the training has started in earnest, and I hope to update this page regularly with my progress over the next four months (may throw in a picture or two while I'm at it) so please check in and see what i'm up to.  I'm very lucky to live in the beautiful Cotswolds so hopefully the training will have a slight silver lining as I take in the gorgeous countryside as I run.

Love Izzi XXX