Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

We have decided to  row a boat 3,000 miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands across to Antigua this December as a personal challenge whilst at the same time seeking to raise awareness and funds for a debilitating illness that has affected a close friend very profoundly all of his adult life.

Our friend was diagnosed with the condition systemic lupus erythematosus (or SLE for short). He, like ourselves and probably many of you had never heard of this before.

SLE is a chronic and currently incurable illness of the immune system, a condition in which the body's defence mechanism begins to attack itself through an excess of antibodies in the blood stream causing inflammation and damage in the joints, muscles and other organs. Almost any organ or system within the body might be affected and in our friend’s case the effects were profound.

Since diagnosis he has undergone many operations, including open heart surgery and hip replacement as a consequence of this life affecting condition. He has suffered greatly, as has his family (a lovely wife and two wonderful girls), as the effects of this illness have borne on him over the years.   

We want to raise awareness of this illness and collect money for research and to help for those people who have SLE or are affected by it. 

We have chosen Lupus UK as our charity and we would like it very much if you could help us in this endeavour. We will row 3000 miles - can you give just £10?

Thanks

Adrian & Martin

PS. It's Coventry Five-0 as we live around Coventry and we both turn 50 at the time of the row.