Mental Illness has always been a taboo subject; If you had asked me a few years back about it I will admit now my knowledge was limited, some would say ignorant, I believed it as a mind over matter issue. However, my view rapidly changed when I witnessed my younger sister experience a severe depressive episode as a result of potentially having bipolar disorder (she was never formally diagnosed).  When this occurred we found ourselves dealing with a situation beyond our understanding and control, witnessing a person we love so dearly mentally tortured in this way was soul destroying. I have never felt so useless and scared in all my life. For three months we tried battling to get her through it even seeking  professional help, yet still we did not win the battle, she felt her only option out was to take her own life. It was only after her death we looked into mental illness more to try to understand; she carried many traits of bipolar and the severe depressive episode was a result of a sudden mania state to a sudden depressive state. I often wonder now had we been more aware of mental health issues would the situation have been different? I do not know?

I have decided to challenge myself with two events to help raise money for MIND. I believe mental illness is a hidden modern day killer and by undertaking this challenge I hope to raise the profile and awareness of this devastating disorder. Everybody knows I have an acute hatred of running  so doing a 10km Mud Run (May 17^th) will push me to the limits. To increase the difficulty, and really test myself, I have decided to undertake The Yorkshire Three Peak challenge at the beginning of August. So please dig deep into those pockets to help me raise money for this worthy cause. If the statistics are correct then one in four of us will encounter this deadly disease at some point during our life. I used to think things like this would never happen to me....

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