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So here I am taking part in The Cumbrian Run half marathon, this is a huge challenge for me as i haven't run anywhere for years and rarely exercise 🙈

However the reason I am doing this is a far bigger challenge to take on and one that is very personal to me, I am hoping to raise as much money and awareness as possible for North West and Cumbria NSPCC, for anyone who isn't aware at least 429 sexual offences against children were recorded by Cumbria police last year, but allow me to make you aware that for every child identified as needing protection from abuse its estimated another 8 are still suffering abuse! There is a taboo surrounding this subject as people would rather turn away than face the realisation of the enormity of this problem, it's all too easy to turn away and ignore issues that aren't directly affecting you, but these children have no voice and to make the world a better safer place for them we must change that.

I lost my childhood to sexual abuse and sadly it has taken me a very long time to learn to build stable and trusting relationships and move forward in a positive way with my life, it's a lifelong challenge that never goes away and time just teaches you to deal with it better, but sadly not everyone is strong and I believe it's much easier to help a child have a happy safe loving childhood than fix a broken adult. It will now be my mission and my aim to raise as much awareness of this as I can, these children need a voice and education is paramount to future erradication of childhood abuse. 

It doesn't bare thinking about but please educate your children, help me raise the awareness and the funds to help educate your children on keeping themselves safe, every childhood matters and no child should ever ever ever feel unsafe unloved and uncared for children should be free and innocent, to take that away from them is unimaginable but the facts are out there.....allow me to quote from the children's commissioner........

4th July 2017

Over half a million children so vulnerable that the state has to step in
670,000 children in England growing up in ‘high risk’ family situations
Thousands of children living with adults in treatment for drink or drugs
800,000 children suffering from mental health difficulties
Tens of thousands of children involved with gangs
Over a thousand new child victims of slavery each year
Many more children under the radar.

Almost 700,000 children are living in families that have vulnerabilities, including over 15,000 children living with an adult receiving alcohol treatment and nearly 12,000 living with an adult in drug treatment.
580,000 children – equivalent to the population of Manchester – are so vulnerable that the state has to step in and provide direct care, intervention or support.
370,000 children whose actions have put their futures at risk, including 160,000 children temporarily or permanently excluded from school in England.
800,000 children aged 5 to 17 suffer mental health disorders.
200,000 children are judged by their local authority to have experienced trauma or abuse.
An estimated 46,000 children are thought to be part of a gang.
119,000 children are homeless or living in insecure or unstable housing.
170,000 children are estimated to do unpaid caring for family members, of which many have not been identified and offered support.
1,200 children are newly identified victims of modern slavery per year.
However, these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.

Many of the figures published in the report are likely to underestimate the actual number of children living vulnerable lives: many children are ‘invisible’ because they are not reported to services, or because of worrying gaps in available data.

“It is shocking that half a million children – a number equivalent to the entire population of Manchester – need direct intervention or care from the state because they are living vulnerable lives. On top of that there are many hundreds of thousands of other children growing up in potentially high-risk situations.

“Yet even more shocking is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The actual numbers are likely to be much higher. The truth is nobody knows the exact number of vulnerable children. We can trace in minute detail the academic progress of a child from 4 to 18 and beyond, but when it comes to describing and assessing the scale of negative factors in a child’s life which will hamper their progress, we are floundering.

“What we do know is that even these numbers are unacceptably high. Our ambition as a nation should be for all our children to live happy and healthy lives.

These figures are astounding, we have to fight to stop this and we have to fight for a better future for innocent children, I'm starting with North West and Cumbria but it's my aim to one day help children all over the UK, your donations can help me get started in making a difference, no matter how small eventually we can make a change 💖

I thank you all in advance for taking the time to read through why this means so much to me and for any donations made, I will do my absolute best to smash the Cumbrian run! 

#EVERYCHILDHOODMATTERS

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