From as young as I can remember sport and fitness were my life. So much so that I went on to study Sports Coaching and development where I gained my coaching qualifications in football and basketball. Life was pretty full on, I coached basketball 3 times a week, and trained every day alongside working a full-time job, I loved every minute of it. Sadly, that was all about to change.

In 2011 I was admitted to A&E with excruciating pain in my lower leg. My leg had become increasingly swollen with blood starting to ooze from my shin. I went on to spend the next 3 weeks in hospital undergoing multiple blood tests, scans and biopsy’s to be left with no answers.

Fast forward 3 years, I had to leave my job because my leg couldn’t tolerate me standing for any length of time as the pain became unbearable, I was forced to give up my coaching and was told I wouldn’t be able to train or play sport again.

I continued to see my GP twice a week for my dressings to be changed and attended the hospital every other week for appointments with different specialists across the UK.

I remember feeling like I had lost everything going from a fit and healthy young guy to undergoing multiple CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, x-rays, surgery, prescription sun beds, steroids, vein closure, and multiple antibiotics to be left with no cure or answers.

Finally, the diagnosis of Reactive Angioendotheliomatosis came after three long years. I was told I had one of the rarest conditions in the world with only 22 other cases currently known.

Information surrounding my condition still remains very limited, with some patients having a failure in one of their major organs, thankfully that does not seem to be the case for me.

To this day there is still no cure, however, I have found in recent years wearing compression on my leg 24/7 helps control the unpleasant symptoms.

I feel fortunate that I have found ways to manage my condition through trial and error, I try not to let it affect my day-to-day life or my mental health. Throughout my journey I have learned many things, the main one being that there is always someone worse off than yourself.

After 8 years of being told I could never return to contact sport, I managed to play a whole season of football in 2019 which is something I never thought I would do again. This was genuinely one of the happiest years of my life but I have since stopped due to the deterioration of my leg.

The Challenge

Running a marathon was always on my bucket list but I have been advised by numerous Doctors and Consultants that I should never attempt this.

On the 25th of September 2022, I will be proving the experts wrong by (hopefully) completing the Berlin marathon. I am doing this in memory of Duncan Wright and Ross Johnston who both suffered from rare medical conditions which tragically took their lives at a young age.

I have decided to support the following 2 charities:

Genetic Alliance - Genetic Alliance UK is the largest alliance of organisations supporting people with genetic, rare and undiagnosed conditions in the UK.

Marie Curie - A charity close to Duncan, Ross’s and my family’s hearts.

By carrying out this challenge I hope to raise awareness & money for those who suffer daily from such rare medical conditions, in the hope that more medical research can be carried out. I kindly ask for you to donate what you can to these amazing charities whilst I try to push myself through the “impossible”.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my just giving page, it means a lot.

Greg.