Intro

On April 10^th, I am doing an amazing thing!

I am running the Brighton Marathon (well, when I say running – I may finish on my knees, or someone elses even) but my goal is to finish on my own 2 feet.  This is amazing for me because –

     1. My Mum

4. I am going to raise, with your help, lots of money for the MS Society

 My Reason

Quick explanation of MS

I am actually very scared and excited about this challenge, and very fortunate to be well enough to do so. For those of you who don’t know what MS is I will quickly explain.

The simplest way to understand what happens in MS is to think of your nervous system as an electrical circuit, with your brain and spinal cord acting as the power source and the rest of your body being the lights, computers, TVs, etc. Your nerves are like the electrical cables linking all of the appliances together and the myelin is the plastic insulation surrounding these cables. If the insulation gets damaged, the electrical current to appliances can become faulty or temperamental and there may be a short circuit, preventing the appliances from working properly. 

A few facts

·         MS is a progressive disease of the nervous system, for which there is no cure and an estimated 2,500,000 people in the world have MS.

·         More women than men have MS, with a ratio of 2 men to 3 women affected.

·         There are four types of MS: benign, relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, primary progressive.

·         Inflammation and ultimate loss of myelin causes disruption to nerve transmission and affects many functions of the body.

·         While the exact cause of MS is not known, much is known about its effect on immune system function which may be the ultimate cause of the disease, however many of the symptoms of MS can be successfully managed and treated.