Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Many of you may be familiar with the 12 Days of Fitness programme, started a few years ago by Dax Moy..

It's a HUGE giveaway over the 12 days of Christmas. It's an opportunity for the fitness fraternity to give a little to the public, for free as their gift for Christmas. This year we have decided to add a little extra to the pot, enabling our chosen charities to benefit too.

My choice of Charity is jeans for Genes. It's a charity which came to my attention 7 years ago, at a time when we were going through lots of hospital appointments and surgery with my daughter Robyn, now 12. Robyn was born with a genetic disorder called VCFS or Chromosome 22 deletion. From birth, I knew there was something different about her but it took until she was 3 before Health care Professionals started to listen.

She was sent for lots of tests by doctors stabbing in the dark for answers, until one day a speech therapist (which I had been fighting to get an appointment for nearly 18 months...) said ' I think I've seen this before...' We were referred to the head Speech Therapist in Glasgow, she took one look at Robyn and told us that she was 99% convinced that Robyn was a VCFS case!

After genetic testing confirmed her diagnosis, it was all systems go! Robyn has had 2 bouts of surgery, occupational therapy, speech therapy and educational support. The latter of the two she still receives on a daily basis.

Robyn went through ridiculous tests, unnecessarily, because the health professionals didn't know what they were looking for.

Jeans for Genes helps with education of genetic disorders and research into the how's, why's and what can we do next!

Robyn is very lucky, her difficulties are mild, the part of chromosome 22 that is missing is so small that it can't be sen under a normal microscope. However, there are thousands of families affected by genetic disorders, which are 'silent disabilities', the kids look normal and healthy, when in actual fact there are many things that need to be kept in check and taken account of throughout the life of the child. Including mental problems, respiratory problems, learning difficulties, heart deficiencies and many many more.

It is my hope that genetic research makes developments over the next 5 years that can help people all over the world, but also to help Robyn and her family, our family, as she grows up and makes her choices in life.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.