Firstly, I hope you'll all join me in raising a collective middle finger to epilepsy. For over two and a half years it's plagued me and my brain, with more focal seizures than I'd care to count. Often I'd have two or three a day and never told anyone. In August 2024 I had my first of a number of tonic-clonic seizures that put me in the hospital. With the birth of Evie around the corner I was terrified and often emotional at the thought of having one while holding her. Thankfully medication has eradicated those (for now and hopefully forever) but the focals have remained to this day, like a house guest who's overstayed their welcome and just won't take a hint. In my checkups over the last year I've been told I was in the 20/30% of cases where meds hadn't eradicated seizures fully yet, so thoughts about treatment-resistant epilepsy and brain surgery started to creep in. I'm going to start rattling around with the number of meds I'm on but I'm hoping soon the focals will be gone for good 🤞

I'm in a much better place now but epilepsy has also taken a huge toll on me mentally over the last few years. It's put me in some dark places and I'd often turn to things like alcohol, and not in a Simon Pegg "let's have a few pints and wait for all this to blow over" kind of way. It was a spiral of just trying to numb my brain into submission and forget about the seizures for a little while, but ultimatley it was digging a hole that made things worse for me and the people around me.

Running has really helped with that side of things as the months have gone on. So after some 4ks at a ridiculously slow pace, I thought "let's do more than ten times that amount." So here we are, running the Manchester Marathon on the April 19th 2026...

Thanks for reading this far because this is the most important bit: the charities I'm raising money for and who'll benefit if you decide to donate to either or both. Epilepsy Society helps research into better treatments and to support everyone affected by epilepsy. They also provide residential care for people with complex epilepsy and campaign and advocate for things like better access to care and medicine. The other charity is Intractable Epilepsy Charity. This is for those with treatment-resistant epilepsy. Donations help to support families who have to pay for alternative treatments, for example, like medicinal cannabis where NHS access is limited.

Please share far and wide and let's help to give epilepsy a swift yet firm kick in the family jewels, to fund better long-term care and research, and to support families who have to take on such an emotional and financial burden.