Raising money for Charity:

As most people reading this blog will know I am a trustee for the British Dupuytren’s Society and this is something I am very proud of and happy with, in fact we do run our own blog (although not so busy). We don’t have huge funds at the BDS but if you would like to donate you can here, the main point however was that I already have 2 runs planned for the next 8 months and I am not running either for the BDS. I am not running for the BDS as people are less likely to donate money if I keep running for the same charity and I would love to save running a marathon for the BDS.

So in October this year I (and my wife) am running a 10k for Pancreatic Cancer UK. This race is going to be very emotional but I am really looking forward to it. The reason for the charity choice is because my Nan died ofpancreatic cancer last year and I really feel that this cause is important and would love to raise some funds for them. I don’t expect anyone from the blog to donate to this cause but you can do so here, my Nan was very proud of my blog and a big supporter in the work we are doing. I know she would have been extremely happy with the presentation I gave in Groningen and the weight loss (that is to some extent inspired by wanting to run this race well rather than just to finish). Hopefully getting a good time in this race can show that not only can Ledderhose patients run after having been in significant pain but that they run well when they were pretty poor runners before the Ledderhose.

The next race on the list is a half marathon next year. It is quite a big step up to a half marathon but given how training has gone I am confident that it is going to go well as long as we don’t get any injuries. The half marathon will also be special as it will be the longest race distance I have ever done and will hopefully again prove how strong my foot is now. The half marathon we are going to run for Mind. Mind is a charity that works on the mental health side of things and this is important to me (When Ledderhose becomes life threatening) and my family for many reasons. For the purposes of this blog the main point is that many Ledderhose patients suffer with mental health issues, having a condition which is fairly rare, where nobody understands and where the pain can be relentless is not easy.

The above 2 charities are both very worthy and I am proud to be running for them. I am hoping one day soon to run a full marathon and raise funds for the BDS which will further expand the ways in which we can help patients and raise awareness etc. If you can relate to the above charities then please do feel free to donate but this is not a post about trying to get people to give money, more an update on me, what I am doing and in some ways how after radiotherapy and my foot is so much better than I can run and have other things in my life.