Me & Jake are both running the 2024 London Marathon for Brain Research UK! In preparation for this, we will also be running the Great Eastern Run in October too! 

We have chosen Brain Research UK as they are the UKs leading national funder dedicated to research into neurological conditions. Our friend, Christie was diagnosed with a Brain Tumour in Jan 2023, after experiencing a variety of symptoms in 2022, with the common mis-diagnosis of migraines, vertigo etc. Whilst awaiting for a private scan she experienced days of excruciating pain which led to her Partner, Matt, taking her to A&E, which showed a tumour 4cmx3.5cm pushing on her brain stem.

A 12hr surgery later, majority of the tumour was removed. However to preserve movement to her face, some had to remain. 

Christie is now starting the long road to recovery, she has grade 1 facial paralysis, has lost her hearing in right ear and continues to struggle with balance and has recently started physiotherapy to tackle this. She will require life time monitoring to the tumour that remains. 

Christie is our reason for running and in her own words 

“I think when you say it’s benign people will, unintentionally, believe that it’s not a problem and after a few weeks following the surgery you’ll be fine. More awareness of the issues a tumour can cause and how to recognise the symptoms is 100% something I hope can be improved, but only by people telling their stories. My GP wasn’t to know how bad it was, you can’t scan everyone with a headache, but maybe if awareness was better, as my symptoms got worse, who knows what might have happened sooner. It’s so important that charities like this exist. They provide helpful information when you are diagnosed and were one of the first places I was told to look. More importantly, they help with research and the sooner people are diagnosed, the less invasive the treatment will usually be.”

So our plan is to hit this head on! 🧠 Any donation is greatly appreciated and will spur us on to run for Christie and others  for future research and awareness.