My name is Carla. After several of my friends were diagnosed with autoimmune diseases I was moved to learn more about these diseases and how I could help. Since I currently own two working legs and don't suffer any chronic conditions myself, I decided to raise awareness via running the Rome Marathon on March 18, 2012.

UPDATE: On March 18 I did run the Rome Marathon and it was a success. I completed the Marathon in 5 hours. The race could not have gone better! Thank you to everyone who has donated, we surpased my goal! Still, you can donate until June 18, 2012. After that my giving page will close and no more donations will be accepted under my name. Thank you again to everyone who donated and encouraged me. WE DID IT!

100% of the proceeds of your donation will go to the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (http://www.msif.org/en/). I picked the MSIF because I have several people in my life who suffer from this disease. So while I encourage anyone and everyone do donate to autoimmune disease research, donating to MS research is something that means a lot to me.

For motivation to donate, go to my blog the Run Carla Run Project (http://runcarlarunproject.blogspot.com/) and read about all my training trials and tribulations along with facts and information about various autoimmune diseases. It's a lot more interesting and funny than it sounds here, but I promise if you read my blog you will be amused and inspired.

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 (sorry EU, US, African, Asian or other non British friends I have). 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.

I personally, in addition to donating my time, energy and money to training and actually running the Marathon am donating $50 American Dollars. Every little bit helps!