Story
As most of you are aware, I have been lucky enough - or mad enough :-) - to secure a place in this year's London Marathon 2019 where I will be running every single one of those 26.2 miles for a wonderful charity called 'TB Alert'.
I want to champion this cause by raising awareness and the funds to support TB Alert's efforts to eradicate TB, by helping diagnose people quickly before they pass it to others and by supporting patients suffering with this disease.
TB has been around for thousands of years, it has been found in Egyptian Mummies. Yet, it is still one of the top 10 killers worldwide. In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with TB and 1.6 million died from the disease. Over 95% of TB deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.
Many people think TB was eradicated in the UK but TB never went away. In fact, over 5,000 people needlessly fall ill each year with TB in the UK - with the majority among the countries most deprived communities. TB is not something to ignore!
What is TB?
- TB is a bacterial infection spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.
- It mainly affects the lungs, but it can affect any part of the body, including the stomach, glands, bones and nervous system.
- The most common symptoms of TB are a persistent cough for more than three weeks, unexplained weight loss, fever, tiredness and night sweats.
- TB is relatively difficult to catch - you need to spend many hours in close contact with a person with infectious TB to be at risk of infection.
All that is left for me to say now is THANK YOU for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page! I promise that I will put in the hard work to get me over that finish line, BUT to help me get there I really need your help and ask if you can dig as deep as you can for this amazing charity! No amount is too small and will be appreciated! Thank you once again.
Love Kat xx