These information sessions are organised by the IBD specialist nurses at York Hospital together with a small group of patients.

The meetings help patients and their families understand a range of issues relating to Crohn's and Colitis - medication, new research, diet, lifestyle, psychological support, employment and other legal rights, procedures such as endoscopies or surgery - all the bits and pieces that go with a long-term incurable but non-fatal medical condition.

There are usually two of these sessions each year. They take place away from the hospital, as we've found this makes them more informal, more sociable, and less intimidating for first-timers to come along.

With hospital budgets cut to the bone, there is no additional money to cover these meetings. The costs are not high - a room in a community venue for the evening, plus tea and biscuits - but it's a burden to ask those who come for anything more than a token donation. Each meeting includes new faces, people who may be meeting fellow-IBD patients for the first time, so the less infrastructure to do with money the better.

I've been involved in organising these sessions for perhaps the last six years or so. As I'm running the Great North Run (9 September 2018), it seemed a good opportunity to help secure the future of these important opportunities for IBD patient-and-carer support.

Thank you, any donations are warmly appreciated :)