My name is Ella Radley and I am 14 years old and currently studying for my DofE Award. Part of this award is to take part in volunteering, and I am choosing to raise money for a charity very close to my heart.

Over the coming months I am going to be helping to support and develop a fundraising campaign for the Cavernoma Alliance UK (CAUK). These people have helped to support my family since my Dad was diagnosed with a cavernoma, and got extremely ill and suffered from two terrible strokes. 

Cavernomas are very rare brain abnormalities, with symptomatic cavernomas affecting 1 in 400,000 people; my dad is one of these. A cavernoma looks like a raspberry in the brain and is made up of abnormal blood vessels. Sometimes the cells bleed into the brain causing strokes. 

The first time my Dad got ill my Mum, sisters and I were all really confused and were uncertain about what was going to happen to Dad and how it would affect his mental and physical health. Would he ever be the same cheerful man that we all love again? CAUK were an amazing resource of information for our family as we struggled to come to terms with the realisation of it all. 

I am hoping that if I help to earn lots of money for the Cavernoma Alliance UK this will help to pay for further well-developed research into how cavernomas can be treated and prevented from harming lots of innocent people like my Dad. Hopefully, it will pay for support workers to reach out to people who are newly diagnosed and can also give funding for more support groups for families who are struggling at home, just like we were a couple of months ago. 

So to help make my goal come true I am going to create a fundraising campaign called “To Cornwall, for Cavernoma.” Together, my family, my friends and I are going to either walk/run or cycle the distance from our house in Surrey to Cornwall, where my Dad grew up – a total of 390 kilometres! 

My goal is to raise £5000 for the charity and once I have completed this target my dad has said that his company will match fund this to make a whopping total of £10000!

So please donate, take part and make mine, and many other family’s lives that little bit better!