Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

i have decided to enter the gut busting 2 day, 105 mile Scotland Coast to Coast challenge from Nairn in the East Coast to Glencoe on the west coast.

For full details of the event see www.scotlandcoasttocoast.com

i am completing this event as a way of raising some money for a FES (functional electrical Stimulation) bike for the Transverse Myelitis (TM) Society to loan out to children like Huw (see his story below)

 A number of the patients at the Birkdale Neuro physio practice where I work suffer from TM, ADEM and other neurological conditions. They are a group of auto immune conditions, where sufferers can react unusually to an illness or vaccination and lose motor or sensory function leaving them with significant disabilities and impairments. 

One of children I work with is Huw. The TM Society are raising funds to help buy Huw a functional electrical stimulation bike in the hope it will help his rehabilitation and improve his function. The TM Society is raising money for this and for other equipment for other children affected by TM, ADEM and other related conditions."

Whilst you may think my background doing triathlons may make this easy, i would like to say one thing "i like tarmac" - it is fast and safe. however this event includes my 2 least favourite things - mountainbiking and off road running - my challenge is to stay out of A+E!!

Anyway enough about me here is what Huw's mum has to say about him:

Huw is a 5 year old boy from London.  He loves role play games and is usually adorned in a costume, pretending to be a member of the emergency services, a special agent or a super-hero.  He likes trying to save the world, put the baddies in prison and save the goodies.  But while he plays and dreams about dashing round the world at the speed of light, real life is a bit harder.  He finds it very hard to stand or to walk.  When Huw was 15 months old, he suffered from an illness called ADEM.  He got ill with a virus and instead of fighting it off his body started attacking itself.  He was left with some damage in the messaging part of his brain, which means that he finds it very hard to send the right messages through to his legs to get them to move in a controlled or coordinated way.  There is no medical cure for his condition.  Now, researchers in America have discovered that a technique called FES biking can help to repair the damaged parts of his brain.  By sending electrical impulses to muscles in the legs, the bike can assist to move the patient’s legs in a way that they cannot manage themselves.  This provides a way of building muscle and improving health and fitness in a way that would otherwise be impossible.  Even more excitingly, the technique aims to stimulate the brain to find a way of making those movements itself, so that over time, the hope is that Huw will relearn how to control his legs and then how to walk again. 

If you want to contribute to the charity, the TM Society, raising funds to buy Huw's bike and equipment for other children like him, please click on the link below.

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