I will be taking on the challenge of completing the Kew Gardens 10K run on 15 September this year, I've never done anything like this before, feeling a little terrified! But you support would be appreciated, any donations welcome.

So why am I doing this? Well...

My cousin Grace is 14 years old and suffers from a major spinal deformity called Scoliosis. This means that her spine is bent so she is pain a lot of the time, and is conscious that she looks different from her friends.

Grace needs life-changing surgery to improve her quality of life and to allow her all the ‘normal’ freedoms we can take for granted. The surgery will be in Germany in November this year to straighten he spine, Grace's case is unusual so it will not be a simple operation.

Grace is only 14 years old and has so much potential, which will only be maximised following this innovative surgery.

The donations will go directly to Grace and her mum, so they can be one step closer to achieving the total of £35,000 for the surgical treatment.

Some information about the surgery...

Vertebral Body Tethering (VBT)
This is an innovative, less-invasive surgical procedure that can modulate bone growth of the spine during periods of rapid growth spurts, when adolescent spinal curvatures typically progress.
VBT is not a new concept.

• Less invasive
• Les surgical hardware
• Curve reduction dependent on curve flexibility
• Less blood loos and risk of infection
• Can be used pre-skeletal maturity
• Spinal Motion sparing
• Long-term complications unknown

Scoliosis bracing attempts to hold a curve from progressing, but it will not correct the curve. VBT is different; by applying counter loading directly to the spine, bone growth modulation can be controlled. Many experts in the field consider VBT far superior to traditional spinal-fusion-based surgeries.