In August 2013 Gabrielle Wheway and Clare Logan ran the 5km Leeds Big Fun Run after training from zero fitness to raise money for Parkinson's UK. This was in memory of a much admired colleague Phil Robinson, a Parkinson's researcher, and for our friend Jonathan Stevens who was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease.

Jonathan suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on 27th December 2013, leaving a huge hole in the lives of many people. In memory of him, to extend his legacy and to raise money for Parkinson's UK who supported Jonathan and fund research into Parkinson's disease, Gabrielle Wheway and Shaun Radford are attempting to run Leeds Half Marathon in May 2014. This represents a significant challenge for both of us, but nothing less than Jonathan's memory deserves.

In recognition of the considerable effort we are putting into training for this, in an attempt to raise as much awareness and money for Parkinson's UK as possible we ask you to please donate as much as you can, and spread the word. Parkinson's remains a poorly understood disease, both in terms of little scientific understanding of the mechanism of disease and how to treat it, and in terms of a general lack of understanding in the general population of what the disease entails and what it's like to live with the condition.