I'm raising money for Aphasia Support. They are a charity that help to support adults after stroke to regain confidence and skills with communication.

Aphasia is a language disorder that can occur after a stroke and can have devastating affects on the person, their family and friends. Losing the ability to communicate can lead to isolation, loneliness and self-neglect. These factors can transfer to other areas of life as well, such as difficulty with mobility, reduced interactions with family and carers, or feeling like nobody can understand you.

I have volunteered with Aphasia Support for around 3 years and have seen first hand the amazing work we do to support those who struggle to access NHS or private speech and language therapy services and feel like they need a little bit more help to achieve the communication goals they have. Goals can be as simple as having a phone call with a friend. To you and I, this will be easy, to someone with aphasia, it can feel like climbing a mountain. They might struggle with finding the right words, putting the words in the right order, they might have unclear speech, or very quiet speech.

Aphasia Support has a fantastic team of volunteers who spend 1:1 support with adults who want a conversation and someone to listen. They host aphasia cafes, which are group social sessions that allow people with aphasia to meet others like themselves. They can chat, eat, drink and be happy.

During my masters in speech and language therapy at UCLan, I helped to set up a branch of Aphasia Support in Preston as I recognised the need for this brilliant service in my area. With your donation, we can help to fund aphasia cafes in the Preston and Blackburn area and we can send volunteers out to visit people with aphasia in their homes for well-needed conversation and communication therapy.

I will be running the Cannock Chase Half Marathon on Saturday 22nd March 2025 and would love your support through donations to keep me going!

All the best,

Lucy