Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. If you are visiting this page you probably know Debbie Richards, Chris Dearling or Emma Boothroyd

This year Debbie will celebrate her 50th Birthday and Emma Her 40th Birthday. In anticipation of this milestone, a moment of madness came upon Debbie and she decided to run the London Marathon 2013. At that point she was a non-runner. At the end of June 2012 she gained a Gold Bond Place running for Barnardo's. By mid July Debbie had nagged lots of people to sponsor her. She also nagged Chris to run with her.  By the end of July Barnardo's had also offered Chris a Gold Bond Place and they became a team...BLISTERS SISTERS.

Debbie & Chris' first run together was around the wildlife centre in Cardigan. Having laughed all the way they realised that they run faster when there are people around and that they needed a bag for essentials such as jelly babies and lipstick. Through the Summer they continued to run the undulating terrain around the Cardiganshire Coast. This was hard work but the stunning scenery helped them along the way. In August Debbie completed the Merthyr Police 10k and gained her first ever medal. That weekend Chris walked the ceredigion coatal path as part of a relay team.  In September Debbie completed the Great North Run, loving every minute and gaining another medal. In October 2012 Blisters Sisters completed the Cardiff Half Marathon. It was Chris' first ever race and Chris and Debbie's first race together. Both gained much wanted medals.  Again there was lots of laughter and a celebratory post race glass of wine. On New Years Eve 2012 Debbie completed the Nos Galan in her home town of Mountain Ash. She gained another medal.

In between the races above, there has been no running from Debbie and hardly any from Chris. The months have whizzed by and all the pre-race plans have on times evaporated. No excuses, just not happened...

And therein lies the problem... Chris has returned from skiiing and a catch up today February 4th 2013 brought home the realisation that there are just 12 weeks left before Blisters Sisters will be pounding the streets of London on the 21 April 2013 raising money for this amazing charity.

On 6th February 2013 Emma gained an elusiveLondon Marathon 2013 gold bond place running for her Charity Spinal Research. Like Debbie & Chris, Emma is a non-runner. Debbie remembers Emma running a 10k 1995 but not much since so like Debbie and Chris you could say Emma has had a gap in her running! Together Blisters Sisters are comitted to their chosen charities.

Debbie & Chris have put in the hours and miles raising sponsorship and running during the summer. The cold weather and dark nights seemed to send them into hibernation. All three Blisters Sisters realise that there will be fitter and faster people in London on April 21st 2013. They desperately need to raise funds for Barnardo's and Spinal Research.

Please donate whatever you can. Blisters Sisters promise to complete the 26.2 miles even if they have to crawl the distance. All they ask is that you give as generously as you can. They hope reach the Finish in one piece to each get one of those elusive London Marathon 2013 medals.

This is probably a once in a lifetime experience for Debbie,Chris & Emma. They realise that there are lots of people trying to raise money for worthy charities. Hopefully the information about Barnardo's & Spinal Research will help you understand why they have chosen these two very special charities and why the work Barnardo's does really does change lives for the better everyday and how it can enable Spinal Research to continue fighting paralysis and win...

Why Barnardo's?

Barnardo’s transforms the lives of vulnerable children across the UK through the work of its projects, its campaigning and its research expertise.

Barnardo’s believes it can bring out the best in every child whether the issue is child poverty, sexual exploitation, disability or domestic violence.

Barnardo’s vision today is that the lives of all children and young people should be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination. Barnardo’s believe in the abused, the vulnerable, the forgotten and the neglected. Barnardo’s pledge to support them, stand up for them and bring out the best in each and every child.

This vision is the same as the one Thomas Barnardo had when he came to London in 1866 and found children sleeping in the streets and being forced to beg for food. It was in 1867 that he set up the Ragged School and started helping the abused, vulnerable, forgotten and neglected children of east london and his work still continues today.

By the time Thomas Barnardo died in 1905, the charity he founded ran 96 homes caring for more than 8,500 children. Following his death his work continued and now Barnardo’s helps more than 200,000 children, young people and their families every year. Like Thomas Barnardo, we believe that every child deserves the best start in life and the chance to fulfil their potential.

We are proud to be able to tell you that  95 pence from every £1 raised for Barnardo’s will go directly into our work with children and young people

 

	£50 could buy 2 bubble tubes for a multi-sensory room, enabling disabled children to play
	£100 could provide clothing for an abused girl, helping her to feel like an ordinary teenager
	£240 could pay for a year's worth of support group sessions for 4 young people whose parents misuse drugs and alcohol
	£500 covers the weekly cost of running 10 community youth groups for children living in disadvantaged areas
	£1000 could help to pay for 7 overnight stay and specialist care fo a terminally ill child or young person, while giving their parents and families an important break from the demands of caring
	£1500 could provide places for 30 children affected by domestic violence at a Barnardo's after school club, offering children the chance to have fun and develop friendship
	£2500 could pay for 25 young carers, caring for a parent with mental ill health, to have a variety of fun activities at their young carers' group for a whole year
	£5000 could buy ten kits for carpentry for a skills training project for young people who have been excluded from mainstream education

 Why Spinal Research?

Spinal Research is the UK’s leading charity funding medical research around the world to develop reliable treatments for paralysis caused by a broken back or neck.

Every year, 1,000 people in the UK and Ireland are paralysed following an injury to their spinal cord. Spinal Research raises money to fund research into clinical treatments as well as vital basic science research. Thanks to such pioneering research, paralysis can now be treated and we stand on the brink of applying therapies that will restore movement and feeling and transform the lives of paralysed people.

Our pioneering research relies on dynamic fundraising and the help of our tireless supporters. We have funded over 120 research projects which have achieved a number of groundbreaking changes in the field.

We believe that, with everybody’s help, paralysis can be beaten.

Our history

Spinal Research has helped make scientific and medical history since 1980. It is determined to continue to do so.

In 1980 it took an act of faith to believe that spinal cord injury could ever be repaired. Yet fundraisers, supporters and scientists never let doubt get in the way of their work. Now, scientific achievements have built a rational foundation for everyone’s hopes. Research has opened a number of routes that, as they converge, are leading the way to the reversal of paralysis in human beings.

Spinal Research was founded in 1980 by Stewart Yesner (pictured right), a young lawyer who had been paralysed in a car accident in Zambia in 1974. He now lives in Australia, but remains a Patron of the Trust.

The charity was originally named the International Spinal Research Trust, but has been known as Spinal Research since the mid-1990s.

Fundraising activities were launched in 1981, and since then, more than £27 million has been raised to fund pioneering research into spinal cord repair.

The charity held its first scientific conference in 1983, bringing together scientists from Britain and around the world. Spinal Research’s scientific network now includes many of the world’s leading figures and institutions in the field of neuroscience.

The charity now aims to launch clinical trials in the coming years. To put this pioneering initiative in place, Spinal Research needs to raise at least £5 million a year between 2011 and 2015

Our achievements

Thirty years ago spinal cord injury was considered incurable and few people, if any, were contemplating research into repair. Today we are standing on the brink of clinical trials of therapies that will restore movement and feeling and transform the lives of paralysed people.

Spinal Research has been there from the beginning, playing a key role in building the field of spinal cord injury research, both nationally and internationally.

We saw the importance of funding the best projects and researchers in the UK and abroad, not only to return the best results but to sow international interest in spinal cord repair. We have helped to spread the message worldwide by publishing our Research Strategy in peer-reviewed journals, encouraging discussion and debate. As a founding member of the International Campaign for Cures of Spinal Cord Injury Paralysis (ICCP), we have supported the development of international guidelines for clinical trials in this field.

Through our Clinical Initiative we have committed ourselves to developing and testing the most appropriate tools for clinical assessment of repair strategies. Our Translational Initiative seeks to move key developments from the laboratory towards clinical trials to benefit real people. We have given priority to research into chronic conditions and non-locomotive functions, knowing that improvements in bladder, bowel and sexual function would increase quality of life for many people. Finally, by providing annual PhD studentship awards we are encouraging talented neuroscientists to train in spinal cord injury and repair, helping to assure the future success of the field.

We are proud to have supported major breakthroughs, including the discovery of:

 

• inhibitory factors within the scar tissue of spinal cord injury that stop nerve fibre regenerating
• specialised olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) in the nose and brain that can be used to guide and encourage nerve regrowth

Other recent projects have included the development of ReJoyce, a computerised rehabilitation workstation for hand and arm exercises, which uses video games based on everyday tasks. Developed by Prof. Prochazka’s team at the University of Alberta, Canada, ReJoyce can improve hand function by over 17% compared to conventional treatment. It is now available commercially and is being used in spinal cord injury centres around the world. Spinal Research has been offered share options in the development company so that profits from this and future innovations can be re-invested in new science. This is a wonderful model for future research projects.

None of this would be possible without your support. Thank you.

We still have much to do.

We need to continue to fund groundbreaking research, and would also like to:

• create a UK centre of research excellence in spinal cord injury
• promote the development of a public domain database to enable international researchers to share and analyse experimental data
• set up a Summer School to train young scientists in the core curriculum of spinal cord injury repair
• make the case for more public funding for this area of research
• communicate research results more widely, to raise awareness of the coming possibility of recovery from paralysis

Please help us take the next crucial steps forward… donate now

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now. We are doing our very best for these charities, every donation will change lives.

Thank you so much,

Debbie, Chris & Emma.

Team Blisters Sisters