Hi everyone, just to let you all know, my sister Hannah Crook will be running on behalf of me in the Cambridge Half Marathon (3rd March 2024) for the Encephalitis International (Encephalitis Society).

I had a relapse of Auto-Immune Encephalitis in May 2022 and September 2023, which set me back a lot in terms of fitness. Having covid in January 2024 has also impacted me.  I hope everyone who has supported me so far will continue to do so, but in accordance with the Fundraising Regulator, if anyone wants a refund, please email the team at the Encephalitis Society on fundraising@encephalitis.info and they will help.

The Encephalitis Society is now known as 'Encephalitis International' and is an amazing charity with weekly virtual gatherings and a connection scheme that puts you in touch with others who have experienced Encephalitis too. It is such an unknown illness and can be misdiagnosed therefore to raise an awareness of Encephalitis is so very important.

I suddenly fell very poorly in December 2019 aged 25. This is my story:

I have always been active, I love to play sport and keeping healthy is a priority of mine. In September 2019, I entered the teaching profession with a spring in my step. Little did I know something wasn’t quite right. When I started my Newly Qualified Teacher year, I was beaming with enthusiasm and I thoroughly enjoyed having my own class! Unfortunately, within a few weeks, I started to notice a number of signs suggesting that something wasn’t quite right -  I had been having headaches for a while, extremely tired, up and down with my emotions and very clumsy. However, there are a few teachers in my family and having shared my feelings, we decided the symptoms were a result of the stressful, busy lifestyle a newly qualified teacher leads.

When I reflect on this time, I realise that my memory was also starting to fail me, and that these symptoms were the start of the most challenging and frightening year of my life...

I hope that everyone who has supported and sponsored so far, will continue to do so but if anyone wants a refund, they can email fundraising@encephalitis.info.

Please see the rest of my story at: https://www.encephalitis.info/freyas-story

More about the Encephalitis Society: https://www.encephalitis.info

Thank you!

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