Why I'm Running Eryri For DC Action

Just over two years ago, I found out that I carry a rare gene which may cause a telomere biology disorder later in life. That news changed how I thought about my own body, and whilst I can’t control the gene, I can control how I look after myself to ensure that I stay as strong and healthy as possible. Knowing that it's mainly lung problems that have been experienced in my family history, I started running...and I've never stopped.

Running a marathon has always been an ambition of mine, and anyone who knows me will tell you I never take the easy option, so it feels quite fitting that my first marathon will be Marathon Eryri on 24th October, routinely ranked as one of the toughest marathons in the UK. I’ll encounter nearly 3,000ft of climbing through the Llanberis Pass and over exposed mountain passes, a brutal ascent around mile 22, and almost certainly the cold, wind and rain that Snowdonia saves for late October. I'm definitely not fast, but hopefully slow and steady will get me round, and that's all I need.

About DC Action

I’ll be running for a small charity, DC Action, which I recently started working with. DC Action's whole purpose is to advocate, educate and promote research into Telomere Biology Disorders. These are super rare conditions affecting approximately 1 in a million people and are consequently very poorly understood. Subsequently, what DC Action does matters enormously: fighting to get it properly researched, making sure doctors and families alike actually know what they're dealing with, and standing beside people from diagnosis onward so no one has to face it alone.

Telomere biology disorders are caused by a genetic alteration that affects our telomeres. Telomeres normally protect the ends of our chromosomes (a bit like the plastic caps on the ends of our shoelaces) so that our cells can keep renewing themselves however, if the telomere maintenance genes have abnormalities it can lead to premature aging which can affect almost any organ, often hitting harder with each generation. In my family, it has presented as pulmonary fibrosis – the condition which my nan passed away from, and from which my mother is now in the end stages of.

On the 24th October, every climb, every mile and every ache will be for something bigger than a finish line. It'll be for my mum, for my nan, for everyone in our community and for the version of me that decided the right answer to that gene was to get stronger, and not to be afraid.

If you can spare even £1 it would massively help DC Action keep fighting for families like mine.