Hi Everybody
I imagine that most of you guys won't have ever heard of either the charity 'Debra', or the genetic skin blistering disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa (or EB for short)  that is what Debra is trying to Help the sufferers of.
I was the same until a few years ago, until my little nephew - Bradley was diagnosed with it.
EB is not an illness that currently has a cure, and to cut a long story short, what this means to Brad is that everytime he gets any kind of even the smallest abrasion or cut to his skin (and seven year olds get a load of them as most of you will remember), it comes up in a painfully weepy blister that will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Please take a second just to think of the implications of this problem -  not only to him potentially being covered head to toe in blisters for the rest of his life from even the smallest cut or graze, but the responsibility his parents have to protect him from harm during his childhood when being a typical 8 year old, he likes to play football and play in the street and garden with his mates.
Brad's a really great kid and best friend to my 7year old son, so anything I can do for the charity that is helping to assist in the treatment of and funding reseach into the cure for EB is the very least I can do.

I going to race this years UK Ironman Triathlon for Brad's charity and I'd like to ask you lot to help, if you can, by sponsoring me through this page with however much you'd like to give.
I really welcome any amount no matter how big or small and I'd like to re-assure you guys that Debra is a very very worthwhile charity.
Please give generously, even if it's just to see me bust my lungs apart in the race.
If you want to donate directly to me and fill in the usual sponsorship form in the traditional manner, then I've got one of those and you can either come and see me or call me on 07920 827588, but if you do it through this site, the tax man gives an extra 28p in the pound to Debra too, so those guys at the charity will be getting that little bit more.

I guess that most of you wouldnt have heard of an Ironman Triathlon, so I'm going to describe it first in numbers and then as a distance you can relate to.

Right first up is a 2.4mile Swim in a lake followed straight away by a 112mile bike ride, straight into a full 26.2mile marathon, that's a total of 140.6 very hilly miles.

To make that a bit more real, that's like starting in Swindon and swimming the 2.4miles to southmarston, then getting on my bike and riding 112miles up to Sheffield followed straight away by a 26.mile run to Leeds (or thereabouts).
The Idea is to do all this in around a total of 12 really really painful hours.
There's more information on the Ironman website, which is www.ironmanuk.com and the race is on Sept 7th 08 in Sherborne in Dorset.

Anyway, if you can give even the smallest amount it'd be greatly appreciated and go to help a truely worthy cause

Thanks

Graeme