Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Running a marathon has been on my bucket list for a while now, so I thought I’d sign myself up for the one in Edinburgh on the 27th of May.

It’s something I’ve wanted to do in memory of my flatmate Siobhan, who sadly passed away as a result of SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy) just hours before her 21st birthday in December 2010. Prior to her death, Siobhan had been having more seizures than normal due to her medication being changed, and there is a great need for better understanding of epilepsy, which could lead to improved treatments and possibly even a cure. As a result choosing a charity to support was a no-brainer.

Epilepsy Research UK supports the work of scientists and clinicians throughout the UK, who are investigating all aspects of epilepsy in both adults and children. They are especially looking at what causes epilepsy, who gets it, what goes on in the brain during a seizure, and safer drugs and better surgical techniques to treat it.

Epilepsy affects over 450,000 people in the UK alone. My personal experience from knowing Siobhan, as well as being a pharmacology graduate means I’m aware that current treatments are inadequate. Far too many people do not have their seizures controlled: in the UK, 30% of people with epilepsy cannot become seizure-free with current treatments.

Many anti-epileptic drugs currently available significantly affect patients' quality of life due to their side effects. Recent new treatment methods such as vagus nerve stimulation and new surgical techniques are helping, but there is a long way to go yet in optimising treatment for people with epilepsy. This is why the work this charity does is so important, providing funding into new research as well as allowing existing projects to continue.

I’ve got a target of raising £500 for running the marathon, which is tough but hopefully achievable, so I’d greatly appreciate any donation you could spare, large or small.

Anything will help and go towards improving treatments, and therefore the lives, of people with epilepsy and possibly mean someone isn’t taken from their loved ones prematurely as Siobhan was from her family and friends. Your support means a great deal, so thank you in advance.

I’ll put a link to the facebook page for this down below for anyone that's interested in keeping updated with how I’m getting on with the training. It'll probably be quite entertaining considering I'll need to go from doing no exercise to running a marathon in the space of 6 months!

On that note, I’m off to don the running gear and pound some pavement. Wish me luck! 

 

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grahams-running-the-marathon-Apparently/187883404642477