In June I’ll be walking 100km over 2 days, for the Lake District Challenge 2022. I’m raising money for PANS PANDAS UK, a charity who have supported us after the diagnosis of our son, Max, in 2018.

Max is ten. He loves The Simpsons, Doctor Who and Minecraft. He loves reading. He wants to be a writer and a scientist. Perhaps a science-fiction writer.

Max also has PANS. It stands for Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome. Some people call it post-infectious autoimmune encephalitis. More simply, when his body is attacked (by an infection, a sting, a bump on the head ...) the antibodies, which are supposed to fight the infection instead attack an area of his own brain causing inflammation. It causes a range of incredibly challenging and debilitating symptoms such as OCD, tics, eating disorders and anxiety, it can be isolating and life changing.

Max was 3 at onset, but it took another 4 years before we got a diagnosis and treatment. For the last 4 years our family have been supported by PANS PANDAS UK, the most wonderful charity fighting for recognition and treatment of these conditions in the UK. Max has now been off treatment for over 8 months and is doing brilliantly at the moment, but too many children and young people are not so lucky.