Last year I walked 58km and this year on 25th May I'll be walking 100km (that's 62 miles) to raise awareness and funds for the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO), a charity I proudly work for, that supports organisations around the world to work together in the fight against meningitis and septicaemia. 

Meningitis is a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many and rightly so. Each year 2.8 million people around the world are affected and of those that contract the bacterial form, up to 1 in 5 will die and of those who survive, 1 in 5 will be left with life-changing after effects like epilepsy, deafness and cerebral palsy. It can affect anyone of any age, anywhere in the world. 

The bacteria that cause bacterial meningitis can also cause septicaemia, or sepsis.

9 years ago I lost my mum to septicaemia shortly after Christmas. She had conquered multiple myeloma (a type of blood cancer) and cruelly developed an infection following kidney dialysis. Within a week she went from my wonderful mum, brimming with excitement about Christmas (her favourite time of year) to not recognising who we were and her body shutting down. On 6th January we made the heart wrenching decision to turn off her life support machine and she slipped away at just 55 years old. 

By donating you are helping CoMO to support its members in the global fight against meningitis and septicaemia. Our members do life-saving work, raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of the diseases and advocating for inclusion of vaccines that can prevent infection. We provide a network for these groups and support them to learn new skills and form a globally united voice against meningitis. If you can't donate then please share this message and raise awareness of meningitis and septicaemia. Thank you for your support.

Sam