Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

For my challenge in 2023, I will be taking on something a
little more close to home.

Why this challenge?

I grew up in Surrey, and my grandparents lived around Guildford
(Cranleigh and Shalford) and we would visit often driving the route of the challenge from our home. I studied at the University of Surrey where the challenge starts, and the North Downs Challenge seemed the perfect trip (run) down memory lane. This will be my furthest running challenge to-date. I ran The Virtual London Marathon in 2021 and could hardly walk afterwards. I wanted a bigger challenge than the 100km hiking challenge I have completed in Yorkshire and Thames Path. I may regret deciding to run this one.

Why Macular Society?

My mother suffers with age-related Macular Degeneration Disease (AMD), and it was first diagnosed when she was 60 years old with dry AMD, and sadly has now developed into wet AMD and she has regular injections to help reduce the symptoms of the disease but currently there is no cure.  I have uploaded photos of how AMD effects eyesight to my JustGiving page. 

What is the Macular?

The macula is part of the retina at the back of the eye. It is only about 5mm across but is responsible for our central vision, most of our colour vision and the fine detail of what we see.

Nearly 1.5m people in the UK have macular disease. It affects
people of all ages. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common condition, generally affecting people over the age of 55.

AMD is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 700,000 people. More information can be found on the Macular Society website: https://www.macularsociety.org/macular-disease/.

The effects that AMD sufferers experience to their eyesight, the photos show a book with a swirl on one page and blurriness and the other photo of a person riding a bicycle on a busy street but a black spot covers the central part of the photo. 

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