Hi, I'm Rhys, I joined the MS-UK team for the first time this year on 28th February, 54 days before the London Marathon race day... And Strava is telling me I haven't ran since 12 May 2020... You're probably thinking 'are you mental?' 'you're an idiot.' I would agree with you right now. But there's something far more important driving me to do this...

Growing up I never had a chance to fully get to know my Grandad. He was diagnosed with MS at a time where very little medicine could slow down the effects and there was little mental health support around him. But he was an incredible man, as a kid he came from an extremely poor family and as a teenager he left school and worked in the Manchester Bus Garage cleaning buses, literally scraping muck from the undercarriage. Here he joined the union and worked up to being a union rep where he was considered quite talented with helping others. Because of this he was able to gain a place at Oxford University where he managed to work hard and gain not only a bachelors, but a PhD in psychology. He became a lecturer at the University of London writing his thesis called The Spiral After Effects helping to progress the research of schizophrenia. Then, MS hit and his world was turned upside down. If I'm honest I know very little about his life after the diagnosis and I want to make it my aim to discover how this effected him mentally and what happened to his life and his career. 

This opportunity is more than just running to complete a race for me, it's a chance to discover how my Grandad in the 80s and 90s got on with this life-changing condition and see how far we've come since then. This will be my drive and motivation to finish this race, for all those who aren't able to, like my Grandad, after the condition stripped it from him.

MS-UK is a national charity dedicating to empowering people affected by multiple sclerosis to live happier and healthier lives. They work to improve the understanding of MS and provide support where it is needed most. MS-UK Services include a helpline providing information and emotional support, a national telephone counselling service and a bi-monthly magazine called New Pathways. Everything they do supports people to manage this incurable condition and increase their health and wellbeing.Every donation counts! £50 could pay for a telephone counselling session for someone struggling with their mental health, £200 is the cost of 10 complementary subscriptions to a New Pathways magazine for those who cannot afford it. £2,770 would help support people through our national MS-UK helpline and web chat for a whole week. Any donation you can make, big or small, will help sustain their all-important services.