At the beginning of 2019, my partner became very ill out of the blue. After 6 weeks of debilitating pain and not being able to eat, he was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and given tablets that would manage the condition for the rest of his life.

He rapidly deteriorated over the next 2 weeks and was admitted to A&E, on the verge of collapsing. After 2 different courses of IV steriods, we were given devastating news that the condition had become unmanageable and he would need an operation to remove his large intestine. It was hard to accept that there was no cure, but even harder to understand how this disease had took a hold of him in such an aggressive manner, only weeks after being diagnosed. It was such a shock.

I'm running the Great North Run not only for my partner, who showed huge courage and strength throughout, but to raise awareness and hopefully help Crohns & Colitis to invest more in research to find a cure for the 300,000+ people living with IBD.

#noteverydisabilityisvisible 

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