Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Those of you that know me well, will know that the last 3 years of my life have been very difficult and I have had to work very hard to regain my mobility and maintain my road to recovery.  Here's a bit more about me and how my journey to the New York marathon started...

Prior to becoming unwell, I was a Petty Officer in The Royal Navy with a passion for travel, adventure and extreme sports.  I completed ultra marathons through the Amazon rain forest (2007), the Gobi desert (2010) and regularly competed in triathlons.

In October 2015, I experienced stroke like symptoms and was rushed to hospital.  After several scans, no reason for my symptoms could be found and I was sent home.  Over the following weeks my symptoms became worse and reached the point that I could no longer walk independently.  As you can imagine, for such an active person this was extremely distressing.   

About a month later I finally received a diagnosis, I had a Functional Neurological Disorder.  This is a mental health condition which is occurs due to difficulties with processing distressing feelings such as stress and anxiety.  Instead of experiencing these emotions in the usual way, my brain converted them into physical symptoms, disrupting my motor co-ordination and leaving me unable to do most day to day activities independently.  Whilst it was a relief to have a diagnosis, it was then a long road back, as I have had to learn how to try and retrain my brain and my body. During 2016 I had several admissions into DMRC Headley Court starting me on the road to recovery.  In 2017 I had a 3 month stay at The Royal Bethlam Hospital to continue to work at my recovery, this was a turning point for me. I entered hospital with a wheelchair and walking frame and left being able to walk, run and ride a bike!

On my journey to understanding how to manage my stress and anxiety I was also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which has helped me to understand some of the difficulties I have experienced better.  I am proud of what I have accomplished living with this condition and would like to show others with it that they can do the same.

I was referred to The Not Forgotten Association in 2016 at a time when my mobility was at it's worst.  My mood at this time could get very low, as I spend nearly all of my time at home with little contact with anyone outside my immediate family.  The Not Forgotten Association invited my wife and I to join them at a range of great events including a Christmas Party at St James' Palace, Afternoon Tea at Buckingham Palace and a weekend away in the countryside with other sick and injured service personnel and veterans.   These activities gave me something to look forward to and made me feel like I was valued again.  

As a started to make progress with my recovery, Rosie Thompson (Events Organiser at The Not Forgotten Association) suggested that they could support me with the opportunity to participate in the New York Marathon.  This was an amazing opportunity that I couldn't say no to, even though it was going to be a big challenge to get there both physically and mentally.  Training for this hasn't been easy, I have continued to have regular flare ups of my condition and had an 8 week period that I was unable to train at all due to the severity of my symptoms.  Despite this I have tried immensely hard to keep my focus and work towards my goal.  This is one of the reasons I am starting my fundraising only now...but with 3 weeks to go I now feel confident that I am going to do this! Having the opportunity to do this will be a milestone achievement for me and helps me maintain the belief that I can beat my illness.

I would be really grateful for any support that you can offer me to help me on my way and enable The Not Forgotten Association to keep supporting others like me.

A big thank you in advance for all your contributions.

John

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