DONE:I completed the challenge and managed a personal best in the Great South Run, not bad for an old bloke, especially as my PB was set when I was 35! Thanks to everybody for your support, but most of all thanks for your money. it really will make a difference.

 

If you haven't donated yet there is still time, so please read on...

 

If you have known me for a while you will know that my nephew Harry has EB. Harry is twelve now. He doesn't complain, he doesn't want pity or sympathy. He gets on with life in a way that would put most of us to shame. But I know he would give anything to be able to kick a football, come for a run or pull on a wetsuit without knowing that each one of those things which we take for granted will cover him in blisters and leave him in excruciating pain. Pain he lives with every day, no respite and no hope of a cure.

If you know somebody with EB or you saw the C4 documentary 'The boy whose skin fell off' about the life of Jonny Kennedy, you will not need to read any further to be convinced why DebRA is such a great cause. If you didn't I'll explain.

DebRA is the only charity conducting research into and offering support to sufferers of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). EB is a very rare genetic condition in which the skin and internal body linings blister at the slightest knock or rub. 

If you think about how many things touch your skin on a daily basis, including your clothes, now imagine that that contact will turn into a painful blister. Now think about those blisters having to be lanced and dressed - a painful procedure taking up to three hours every day. Now you can begin, but only begin, to imagine the suffering that EB causes. There is currently no treatment and no cure. If you would like to find out more click here

 

It's been two and a half years of recession since I last did some fundraising for DebRA but EB is still with us and it doesn't seem to care that nobody has any money. Many of you have sponsored me before and made a real difference so I knew that if I was to ask you for money again, I was going to have to up my game. So...  

On 7th October I ran the Chester Marathon

On 14th October I ran the Oxford Half Marathon

On 20th October I ran the Weymouth 10, and;

On 28th October I ran The Great South Run.

Four races in four weeks, quite a tall order for an old man like me, and here's where you come in...

DebRA is a small charity with a big job on it's hands. Every penny helps an every penny makes a difference. For example: 

£15 can provide five babies with special mittens to prevent them tearing their own skin. 

£25 can pay for one hour of research to finding an effective treatment for EB. 

I know times are tough, but not as tough as living with EB. Please donate anything you can to help me, help DebRA make a real difference, more than you can imagine, every day. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you