My Uncle and good friend Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease at aged 40, 17 years ago. After a slow but obvious period of deterioration, he started taking GDNF as part of phase 2 of a trial looking to cure people of this disease. This drug has been developed to improve and treat people, not just stall the affects of Parkinson's on the body. With in a couple of months we could all see a massive change in Bob's abilities as he clearly started to improve. 

Sadly, phase 3 of the trial, which would have allowed Bob to continue taking GDNF has not been funded and Bob is now starting to regress on medication that is simply stalling, not stopping Parkinson's Disease. The Results of the first trial can been seen first hand in a BBC 2 documentary, featuring a number of participants on their journey to overcome Parkinson's Disease. Now, 3 million pounds needs to be raised to continue to phase 3 of the trial which will allow the research to continue and help far more people recover from Parkinson's Disease.

I will be swimming across the River Torne from Finland to Sweden on the 13th July. Starting on the Finnish side just after midnight and swimming 3000 metres across the border and the arctic circle to Sweden. The event is an open-water swimming competition and the water is currently 14 degrees - luckily we are allowed to wear wetsuits!

Please donate anything you can to help get the 3 phase of the trial started so that GDNF can once again help my Uncle Bob, but also stop this disease from ruining further lives in the future.

For more info about the GDNF trial: https://www.cureparkinsons.org.uk/news/gdnf-trial-toms-story

For more info about Swim the Arctic Circle check out: https://swimac.eu/en/