In April I will be running the London Marathon for a charity very close to my heart - I'd love it if you could help me and them reach our target!

I know - another middle aged man doing a run and asking for cash - how novel/exciting!

I promise this will be my first, last and only Marathon - which is good news for my family - they won't have to deal with me griping about the training, good news for my knees and good news for you - this is your one chance to donate!

Who are Unique ?

Unique is a charity that provides accurate information to empower those looking for answers about rare gene and chromosome disorders.

They work with anyone that has been affected by rare chromosome or gene disorders - whether that’s an individual, a family, a carer, a doctor or a scientist. Working together leads to new ways to support and celebrate people living truly unique lives.

Unique has over 30,000 members (individuals, families and professionals) globally

Full disclosure - My very lovely, very patient (with my whining) wife , Sarah , is CEO of Unique.

But before she was CEO she joined Unique as an Information Officer in 2007 to help families facing up to chromosomal disorders and before that , we as a family became members of Unique , after Sarah had a series of miscarriages.

Sarah was actually working as a geneticist in the lab when she received the news that her three miscarriages were almost certainly due to my (Marc's) balanced translocation. In her words:

“It was a huge shock. Unless you too a have had a balanced translocation diagnosed in your family, you probably won’t know that essentially it means that two pieces of chromosome (usually from different chromosomes) have ‘swapped places’. As no genetic material has been lost or gained, people who have them are usually unaffected, and often completely unaware until they try to have children when they have a high chance of miscarriage or the birth of a child with extra or missing chromosome material. The news came as such a shock and in our quest for more information we contacted Unique. Although a guide was not available then, I’m really pleased to say that there is one now! '

Sarah, and Unique have helped and continue to help thousands of families - and we'd love it if you could help us raise some more funds to help them with their mission.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity