Huntington's Disease has impacted me and my family massively for the past 12 years. Both my cousins Charly and Jono, who are a similar age to me, have been diagnosed with HD, Jono very recently and Charly back in 2014.

Since Charly's diagnosis, her mum (my Auntie Sarahjane), along with my mum Liz, have been fundraising by putting on shows, themed events and parties and have raised a lot of money in the process. Their constant positivity and dedication inspires me everyday and has kicked me in to gear with wanting to do some fundraising myself, to add to their amazing work!

A little more about Huntington's Disease...

Huntington's is fatal disease which damages the brain. Symptoms usually appear between the ages of 30 and 50 and it worsens over time, affecting the person's ability to think, reason, walk and talk, leading to them needing full-time care. Unfortunately for Charly, she had a much earlier onset and was diagnosed at the age of 22. The severity of her symptoms have increased a lot over time, to the point of now not being independent.

Every child of a parent with Huntington's has a 50/50 chance of inheriting the faulty gene, and currently there is no cure.

Dr Shouqing Luo and his team at Plymouth University are working with international researchers, clinicians and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to investigate the potential of manipulating activity at cellular level to find potential effective therapies for this condition. With your support we can move faster and closer to a cure - and bring hope to the estimated 5,700 people in the UK alone with this progressive brain disorder.