Hey folks.

We're running the Manchester 10 km Rough Runner to raise funds for the ITP Support Association. My mum suffers from ITP. It is a condition which affects platelets in the blood which contribute to the blood clotting process. In ITP the platelets are attacked and destroyed by the immune system. In a normal person platelet count would be between 150 - 450. ITP patients can have significantly lower counts - my mum's lowest recorded is 9!!! In most cases the cause is unknown but causes and symptoms can vary massively between patients. For my mum, fatigue slows her down, the slightest knock results in massive bruising from burst blood vessels, the tiniest cut is a risk as she bleeds almost indefinitely, and a knock to the head could spell disaster. There is no treatment to cure ITP. Treatments used at present attempt to raise platelet count and ease symptoms when problems with bleeding arise, but they can have lots of horrible side effects and none are guaranteed to work because, as mentioned earlier, the condition manifests differently in different patients. The incidence of ITP in the U.K. Is approximately 6 per 100,000 adults (120 new cases a year). As the incidence is low, research in to this condition has been extremely limited. The ITP Support Association has been a massive help to my mum in connecting her with other people going through the same thing, and providing a community for people to talk about what works for them in coping with this condition. As well as providing information and support to patients, the Charity also fund their own research into the disease so that they can learn more about ITP and hopefully one day find a cure!

The total income of the ITP society over the last 12 months was just over £90,000 which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot of money for a medical charity, so any donation would be massively appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read our story x