A massive thank you goes out to Lanyon Bowdler and friends who completed the Virtual London Marathon, raising funds to support a research study into the rare Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1A (CMT) And it's not too late to donate!

We are so grateful to our team of supporters who took part in the Virtual London Marathon on Sunday 2nd October. A fabulous day to run and walk the 26.2 miles around beautiful Lake Vrynwy and through the surrounding trails.

The team were amazing and we hope you will support them to raise even more towards finding a cure for this dreadful debilitating disease.

What is CMT?

CMT is hereditary and affects the motor and sensory peripheral nerves connecting the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. Motor nerves carry messages from the brain and spinal cord to our muscles. Sensory nerves convert specific external stimuli, such as touch and pain, into signals that are sent back to the brain.

CMT causes the motor and sensory nerves to become damaged and die leading to weakness and muscle wasting below the knees and the hands. Severe numbness means patients can be injured without knowing it ie: bashing feet or burning hands. The implications of these injuries can be quite devastating.

Symptoms usually appear in the first 10 years of life although may occur much later. This may be observed as a slight walking difficulty or problems picking up the feet, tremor of the hands, joint pain, foot deformities or muscle cramps.

Approx. 80 genes have been found in which mutations cause CMT. They usually affect the production of a particular protein in the peripheral nerves, causing it to be faulty or not produced at all. Although CMT 1A is usually inherited, it has been found in some individuals with healthy parents, representing a new mutation.

Currently, no treatment is available.

With the number of genes likely to increase in the future, our researchers need to understand more about the biology of CMT in order to develop effective treatments to improve quality of life now and into the future. A total of £48k is required to pay for this study.

The team from Lanyon Bowdler and friends will complete the 26.2 miles by running/walking a route twice around Lake Vrynwy in North Wales on the same day as the mass event in London.

Please help them to help us! Thank you.