WE DID IT - TEAM JED FINISHED IN STYLE AT THE GREAT NORTH RUN !

What a fantastic day and what a great effort by all Team JED runners. I have to be honest and say it was one of the hardest things I have done and it made me realise how difficult it must be for my son when he gets tired. I had not really set myself a time given the injury and restricted ability to train any distance due to my knee and ITB issues, however I made it round in under 2 hours ( just, 1hr 59m 20s to be precise). The first 7 miles or so went really well albeit the knee was shot by mile 8, therefore miles 8 -11 were painful and slow, a nightmare with a constant struggle not to stop, seeing Jed run non stop the day before and the thought of him, as well as being able to tell all my generous sponsors that I ran non stop, is what kept me going, I had idea of what time i was running, I just had to keep doing all I could !

I had a brief cuddle and tear with Jed at the 12.5 mile and we ran a few hundred metres together, he then ducked back under the barrier and waited to run to the finish with his mum who went round in about 2hrs 40mins which was a great effort and was accompanied by Janine all the way !

I assure evryone that when i finished i was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, I ran as hard as I could for as long as I could and just kept going, which hopefully my time shows, I genuinely believe I earned every penny, as did Donna and Janine, so a massive thank you for all your kind and generous donations and your words of support on what has been an amazing event. We are very close to our target of £31,000 and just need a final push, so anyone reading this who has not yet managed to donate, please do!

It remains for my to say two special words of thanks, to all Team JED runners for their time, effort and commitment (at their personal cost) to run the event and raise money for my son's charity and a thank you to JED, for being a truely special little boy and wonderful son, whom if he does not kill me first will make me a better man !.

My best wishes and huge indebtedness to you all

 Jed's daddy

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Hello and welcome to our Team JED  sponsorship page. We will be running on behalf of my son Jed's charity ,the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, in the GREAT NORTH RUN on  18th SEPTEMBER 2011, 13 miles (half marathon).

Along with my wife, Donna, we set out to pull together a team of runners to raise as much money for Jed's charity as possible. So many people who know Jed wanted to do more than just sponsor us, so I had the idea to to put in a team. Team JED has been set up in honour of our son, Jed who has Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (UCMD). So I decided to set a target to create Team JED with 31 runners for the 31st Great North Run and raise £31,000 (31:31:31), the numbers just seemed obvious!

Team JED now has a full compliment of enthusiatic runners, which along with Donna and myself , includes Jed's headmaster and sports teachers, family friends, parents from his school, colleagues at McBains Cooper and his clinician, Dr Reghan Foley from Great Ormond Street who is over from USA ! Jed seems to have this affect on people who know him............

In March 2008, when Jed was 8 years old, he was diagnosed with UCMD which is a degenerative muscle-wasting disease that causes progressive muscle weakness, tightening and contractures in the muscles and limbs which leads to mobility and respiratory problems. Depending on the severity of the condition many children become wheelchair bound by early teens with debilitating mobility restrictions in early adulthood. Jed is now 11 and his condition is progressive, though he is doing well, there still remains no treatment or cure. It limits everything he can do physically, from walking, running and any sporting activity to the daily struggle of going upstairs. He is an amazing little boy, whom despite the challenges facing him in life lets nothing get in his way, his strength of character is awesome and is known throughout his circle of friends for always having a smile on his face.

However, there is cause for hope on the horizon. Whilst a few years off, clinical trials may well yet play a part to treat UCMD in Jed's lifetime. Research is the way forward and clinical trials hold the hopes for thousands suffering from the condition. With the huge steps forward in medical science the priority must be funding research to discover a cure, preventative treatment or even a way of slowing down the symptoms or delaying the muscle wasting timescales.

All your donations and sponsorship will go to funding research for muscular dystrophy.  Research remains extremely under funded in this area, partly because the returns are a longer term investment, but the ultimate rewards of a cure are far greater and will affect the lives of far more people.

So why should you sponsor me and the Team Jed runners ?............... firstly this is a very personal and emotional challenge for Donna, me and the Team. You will be donating to an extremely worthy domestic charity and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign helps thousands suffering from muscle disease and does amazing work.  Honestly I genuinely absolutely hate running, therefore, for me to complete the 13 miles will be a real commitment and effort. I attempted the Great North Run last year and ended up running injured will major problems to my left knee. I am currently still undegoing physio from this and have still committed to try agin this year. To those whom i promised this was a one off, my apologies, but i figured if Jed can endure his condition everyday of his life, he deserves me and Team JED runners to do everything we can to help. I genuinely hate it, am not very good at it and will no doubt hate every mile of it ! I currently still have a knee injury so have struggled with training. Those less charitable towards me among you may well find this a more compelling argument for sponsoring me ! Andas for janine, agreeing to run is amazing, but actually doing it deserves every penny she will raise!

The only thing that will keep me going (apart from my son's hug at the finish line) is knowing that you are sponsoring me to do it and that the money raised may in some small way, make a big difference one day. I was invited to become an honarary Vice President for the charity a few months back, a position which I was very honoured to accept and therefore I must also lead by example, both in my fundraising achievements and by leading the Team Jed across the line.

I do not often approach people for support or sponsorship. I am also not seeking to personally request your donation. I am however hoping that you may be in a position to offer some corporate sponsorship (though if you also wish to sponsor me personally I would be extremely grateful), but hope that you can find some way of making a charitable donation through your business/company. As you can see I have set a difficult target for  the Team of £31,000, but hope to raise £10,000 of this myself with Donna. so please give generously. This page is also for Janine Sirley who is a close family friend who hopes to raise £1,000. Go Janine! All the runners have also set up various personal sponsorship pages. Whilst we all appreciate that times remain difficult and we all continue to face financial challenges in our respective business environments, but it compares into insignificance to the life challenges for those whom your donation will help, so if you make one charitable corporate donation this year choose this one. Surely the pleasure of knowing the pain and suffering I will be going through will make it all worthwhile !

Thank you so much in advance of your donation,  for supporting my son Jed and his charity the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and my endeavours to raise sponsorship to fund future research to find a cure.

my kindest regards and gratitude

Michael "Chigley" Thirkettle, Donna Thirkettle & Janine Sirley

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