I've suffered with Crohn's Disease, a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, since I was a teenager and its impact on my life has been immense, affecting every aspect, from my education and work through to my ability to socialise or even eat a
normal plate of food. I want to raise some money for the charity
that has been supporting us whilst the NHS has been unable to, due to
redeployment of staff for the Coronovirus crisis, by completing a
sponsored walk.  As I'm shielding, I can't go out so I am taking inspiration from the phenomenal Captain Tom and will complete this in my parents garden.   Please read on (thanks for your patience!).... 

Here's a little information about how the disease has affected me.  Those of you know who me well will be aware of many of the crazier ways in which Crohn's has impacted my life but a lot of the more "fun" stories would get banned from on here (like the time I 'grew' testicles)....

Some of the symptoms of these 'delightful' diseases include:

• Chronic diarrhoea (I think my record is 20 trips in under an hour)
• Severe pain. It has been reported by many women that this pain is worse than labour pain. 
  
• Bloating.  It’s no laughing matter when you're so bloated you get shipped off to the maternity hospital at 15 years of age for an ultrasound to see what's going on. It's surprising how judgemental and cruel other woman can be when they see a young girl in a maternity hospital - I will never forget those looks.
• Being unable to eat. Nothing like being a teenager with a tube up my nose attached to a machine on my back pumping feed into my stomach over 24 hours. Again..... people are cruel.... those looks and stares…

Over the years I have had phenomenal support from various NHS hospitals but this support has been withdrawn at present, due to the redeployment of NHS IBD staff, to help on the frontline with the Covid Crisis.  This has left me - and many others - feeling very alone and unsupported in dealing with these chronic and unrelenting illness.

Thankfully, we have support from Crohn's and Colitis UK. They provide many important functions such as research into potential cures, but right now, they are supporting us patients when the NHS is less able to. 

CCUK themselves say: “Since coronavirus has hit the UK, our
community has needed our support and guidance more than ever. Calls
to our helpline have risen by 400% and visits to our website have
increased by 600%. You may be aware that many IBD nurses have been drafted to the frontline of critical care, so more and more people are depending on us for advice on managing their conditions. As the nurses perform a vital role on the frontline, we are here to offer additional help to those who need it. More funds are needed for us to do this role as effectively as we can”

So, I really want to try and give a little bit back to this wonderful charity by taking part in their annual “Walk It” event – this year being held virtually due to a certain pesky virus. I have signed up for the sponsored 5km walk but, due to being in the 'extremely vulnerable' and thus ‘Shielding’ category, I am needing to do this by completing laps of the garden. My lovely parents helped me measure it and we think it will be in the region of 187 laps….. I'm pretty sure that this is a sufficient number of laps to make me completely dizzy and slightly loopy come the end of it.  I know times are tough at the moment with furlough and redundancies but if you can spare a couple of pounds to make it worth my while, I'd be so very grateful.

I am hoping to complete this in one go on Saturday 4th July, to mark the end of the official Coronavirus shielding phase and doing this on Independence Day kind of feels appropriate :)

Warmest wishes, stay safe,

Maria xx

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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