Crohn's & Colitis UK are the UK's leading charity for Crohn's and Colitis. Right now, over 500,000 people in the UK are living with a lifelong disease that many people have never heard of. I am taking part in the 2024 TCS London Marathon to support Crohn's & Colitis UK, and your donation can help Crohn's & Colitis UK's mission to improve diagnosis and treatment; to fund research and raise awareness. This is my story...

I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis back in 2012. Since my diagnosis, I have experienced real ‘up and down’ periods with how this disease has affected me and the Crohn’s and Colitis charity have been an extremely useful and comforting resource to refer to in the past – in particular, the medication part of their website for when I have had to make quite difficult choices when determining my treatment plans. Additionally, their networks and newsletters have really helped me to feel like I am not suffering alone.

Throughout the period of February 2020 up until the summer of 2022, I experienced the worst possible time with this disease. I was suffering extremely badly and it got to the point where I could not confidently leave the house. Having always taken daily salofalk, I was additionally trialed on numerous medications, including long bouts of azathioprine, a year’s worth of infliximab infusions in hospital and numerous courses of prednisone which resulted in me becoming adrenal insufficient. Additionally, all of these medications impacted my immune system (becoming immunosuppressant) and as a result, I was considered to be vulnerable throughout the entire Covid pandemic and therefore needed to isolate.

Finally, in summer 2022, I was given the choice of either trialing vedolizumab or tofacitinib. I was told that if neither of these worked, I would most likely be looking at a colostomy procedure. This enhanced my anxiety and as a result, my condition even more. During this consultation with my Consultant at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, I was advised to use the Crohns and Colitis UK website/charity to help me make an informed and appropriate decision. I finally opted to trial vedolizumab and I can honestly say that it has changed my life. After what felt like so long, I finally feel ‘normal’ again after forgetting what ‘normal’ felt like. I am able to now comfortably and confidently leave the house – something which I wasn’t able to do for a very long time.

Running the London Marathon is a wonderful way to fundraise and my aim is to give back and help the Crohn’s and Colitis UK charity via my pledge - this £2,500 target will go a long way in really helping other sufferers with any support (and research) that may be on offer.

With everyone’s very generous donations, whether it be £1 or £20, it will really help to make such a difference with any fundraising that I make and for those who suffer with Crohn’s or Colitis. A huge thank you in advance to anyone who is donating to this cause, whether it be through charity event/stall donations, donations to the page or any support you are offering with my fundraising events and activities that I will be undertaking. You are all amazing and I will be thinking about this so much when I am running those 26.2 miles in April!

A massive thanks all, Chris X