So you may have heard that my mum gave me a very 'special' present for my birthday this year, she kindly signed me up to run the London Marathon. Yup thats right, the whole 26.2 miles of marathon. Some might be sitting there thinking, 'Wow, thats awesome', however anyone that's ever seen me run (and you would be a limited few) or do sport of any sort for that matter, please pick yourselves off the floor from laughing. Needless to say, this is a huge challenge for me seeing as the last time I encountered running was the school cross country that I walked in protest of enforced sport (and came last. good.).

However, what my mum did do right was the charity part....Lepra is a great charity, working for several neglected as well as well known diseases (like TB) in some of the poorest regions of the world. But mostly, it is one of the few charities that focusses on Leprosy, a disease that I am rather fond of but sadly receives very little funding or services. Any support would be hugely appreciated (both in terms of moral support on the day and funds towards Lepra).

If you are interested in knowing any more about Lepra or leprosy, please give me a shout, I'm always super keen to chat lepers! Here's a few facts to leave you on:

 - despite being oficially 'eliminated' according to the WHO, every 2 minutes someone is diagnosed with Leprosy

- in China, the leading cause of death amongst lepers is suicide as a result of social stigmatisation

- the countries most affected by leprosy include: India, Nepal, Brazil, Indonesia and Mozambique

- once treated for leprosy (the main strategy of control) individual's disabilities can continue deteriorating, despite being classified as 'cured'

- leprosy is often thought to be passed on by touch, historically resulting in those infected being ostracised to leper colonies, however it is the least infectious infectious disease and generally considered to spread by droplets (much the same as TB)

- armadillos are the only other animal that can be infected with leprosy, and each year in the USA people catch leprosy from wild armadillos