Hey! Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

So I've decided to run the half marathon, with the support of my brother Lewis, Laura and Anna in April for 'The Brain Tumour Charity' which is a charity very close to my heart.

 It's been a year since I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent invasive brain surgery. For six months throughout the summer of 2014 I had been abroad dancing two hard shows a night in the sunshine, but almost as soon as I landed home I lost my sparkle and my health deteriorated rapidly... In January 2015 I was rushed to St Georges Hospital in Tooting and awaited the diagnosis, thankfully the tumour which had been discovered was benign and I was told after its removal I should make a full recovery (fingers crossed).

 Since the surgery it's been a long, slow and painful recovery and being an active person it was horrible not being able to dance, gym, socialise and be generally mobile. So I decided to make it a personal challenge to take up running. I started very slowly and it was a real achievement for me to walk to the end of the road and back again, but as the days, weeks and months passed I was able to go further and eventually built my strength and fitness to start running. Bearing in mind I have NEVER been a good runner! this was a real challenge but with the motivation of raising some money for such a good cause it is becoming something I actually enjoy - even though it's not something I find easy!

 I consider myself so very lucky and appreciate that without the research and technology available to the consultants at St Georges who are experts in their field, things may have been more complicated for me.
I am undertaking this challenge as I want to give something back to show my appreciation and recognise the fantastic work that this charity enables. 

Each year in the UK, approximately 4,300 people are diagnosed with low grade, slow growing brain tumours (what I suffered with) and 5,000 with high grade, fast growing brain tumours. I have experienced first hand the months of pain, sickness and discomfort pre and post surgery and I just cannot imagine how anybody can cope with that all the time, forever having treatments/operations, which is why I really want to raise awareness and money to help fund the research to improve survival rates and reduce the harm caused by brain tumours. 

So please, no matter how big or small a donation you make it all will make a difference and hopefully I'll make you proud by turning my horrible experience into a postive by completing this challenge!
 Thank you.

Sparkle always 
Chloe X