Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. For those of you that know me well you may be well aware of the struggles that eating disorders have presented to myself, my family and my friends. Beat have been a fantastic source of support throughout the multitude of challenges we have all been presented with. I am very lucky to say that many incredible individuals in my life are still here today due to overcoming their eating disorder illnesses, although it has been a close call on occasion. I am running this half marathon on behalf of everyone I know that has been through an eating disorder, anyone that has supported someone with an eating disorder, those whose lives have been devastated by an eating disorder and sadly those whose lives have been taken by eating disorders. I would like to raise as much funds as possible for Beat as well as utilise this opportunity to open up the conversation around eating disorders, help to educate people around the severity of eating disorders, help to debunk myths around eating disorders and encourage people to get support should they need it. I would be very appreciative if you donated towards this fundraiser and/or had a read of beats website and the articles I’ve attached below. Please share these resources with your loved ones and educate yourself on how to spot eating disorders and how to support people with eating disorders so that no more lives are lost unnecessarily. 

Why should you consider donating to beat?

• eating disorders can affect anyone
• eating disorders can kill 
• eating disorders are serious mental illnesses 
• around 1.25 million people in the U.K. have an eating disorder 
• eating disorders surged during lockdowns 
• there has been an influx in online pro-eating disorder content over COVID-19
• 25% of people with eating disorders are male and the stigma around male sufferers means that many men may go undiagnosed 
• the waiting list for treatment for those under 20 in England has trebled since the start of the pandemic 
• U.K. medical professionals are given less than 2 hours training on eating disorders 
• U.K. parliament has passed legislation for calories to be placed on menus -> an increase in ED’s and individuals with ED’s to relapse 
• Individuals with eating disorders are at higher risk from COVID-19
• Inadequacies in eating disorder care has lead to many preventable deaths