Hi! I am John Jarman, a 62-year old guy with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Since my diagnosis in February 2016, this incurable disease has been steadily taking its toll on my activities. 

Prior to my diagnosis, I was running 5 km a day, even on holiday in the withering Spanish midday sun; now I struggle merely to walk round my local Tesco store.

But what the heck? Despite everything, I have a lot to be grateful for and I can still walk (after a fashion). I refuse to be beaten by this wretched disease, and am fighting it all the way. To this end, the Leith MS Therapy Centre in Edinburgh ( http://www.mstc-lothian.org.uk/ ) has been an immense help to me and to many other MS patients, many of whom are much worse off than I am. 

The Centre offers people with MS such things as pilates and balance classes, physiotherapy, acupuncture and a high-pressure oxygen chamber, but of course those who struggle to get out of their wheelchairs will also struggle to make use of these invaluable services.

I am not in a wheelchair yet, but many others at the MS Centre are not so fortunate, and they often struggle just to get out of their chairs. The MS Centre's standing aid to help these people is at the end of its life, and a new replacement will cost £6,500.

I hope you will feel able to help me raise the funds to enable the Leith MS Therapy Centre to buy a new standing aid for those whose MS is worse than mine. If you feel able, please donate whatever you can spare to sponsor my utterly insane attempt to 'climb' the 8848 metre (29029 feet) altitude of Mt Everest using just a treadmill set to 2.5% incline. By my calculations, that's a mere 354 km (220 miles) that I need to walk in 2019! Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? With your support and encouragement I might, just might, be able to do it

From the very bottom of my heart, thank you.