Triathlon for William - Helping a True Legend 💙

William Eames, who turned 11 in January, has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy https://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/conditions/duchenne-muscular-dystrophy-dmd which is a severe muscle-wasting, life limiting condition, which has already seen him completely wheelchair-bound. This decline is there right before our eyes and heartbreaking for Jo, Matt and Phoebe (William's mum, dad and sister). Like most people with challenging lives, they just get on with it and show very little sadness, never moaning or complaining when really there is so much they could complain about.

What we see is a super smiley William taking it all in his stride and a family who put on a very brave face trying to live life to the full. What we don't see is the endless hospital days where William under goes test after test to see how he's progressing and to see if there is a clinical trial that may suit the type of Duchenne he has to see if they can help prolong muscle use a little longer. Sadly these haven't to date ever suited William as he has a particularly rare type of Duchenne. There is still no cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and life expectancy still remains at 20 -30 years old.

We don't see how Jo & Matt have to answer William's questions as to why he is unable to walk anymore and will he ever be able to walk again and we don't see how it's now effecting his lovely sister Phoebe, who's old enough now to understand what's going on, and who has now been registered as a young carer. 🩷

We have assembled an amazing team of people who are training to complete a very challenging triathlon which consists of a 1.25km swim, a 50km bike ride and an 8km run. We'd like to raise money for William's family as their already 'very specially adapted home' to cater for William’s ever-growing needs now needs even more work. A hoist in his bedroom is now essential as it's impossible to lift William out of his chair and into bed anymore. We’d also like to assist with the payments for their WAV (Wheelchair Assisted Vehicle). This is now the only way to transport William as he can drive in and out on his specialist motor-wheelchair.

These are just two examples of the utterly countless ongoing needs William has.

We want to raise as much money as possible so that more equipment can be bought to make his own and his family’s lives easier and happier as he continues to decline. It's just getting harder every day for all of them, so whatever we can all do would be amazing.

We must remember that as Jo & Matt both work full-time, government assistance for William’s essential needs is very little. We want to be able to assist this wonderful family in being able to get the things that they need in order to do what’s needed for William so that their hard earnt money will allow them to spend as much quality time together as a family, as they possibly can – whilst they all still have each other.

We are a close-knit community and helping this amazing family is so very close to our hearts. Please do whatever you can to support us in our attempts to both raise awareness and much needed funds for William’s ongoing cause.

Please come along on the day. Anything you can do would be amazing. You could join in the family fun run where we will be joined by William in his 'chair-for-life’, or even just turn up on the day to cheer our amazing triathletes and fun runners, and of course eat some cake from the cake stall 🍰

Thank you for reading this, thank you for any donations, and thank you in advance for your support on the day. See you at the John Clements Sports & Social Club in Codicote, on Sun 23rd June, where the fun run starts at 11am with registration starting at 10am on the day. 🙏

Please pop the name of your triathlete in the comments so they know you are routing for them. 😍

Thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts. 🙏

Team William

xx