On 3rd October 2021 I am running the London Marathon to raise money for the Huntington's Disease Association (HDA). It will be my first marathon.

In 2017 my mum was diagnosed with Huntington's disease. HD is a neurodegenerative condition where the faulty gene carrier will start with symptoms sometime between the ages of 30 - 50 and progressively deteriorate, both physically and mentally, over a period of about 15 years before dying of the disease. It's a dominantly inherited condition so you have a 50% chance of inheriting it from an affected parent.

The impact of this news was huge - it was traumatic and extremely difficult to process:  My mum is ill and won't get better; I could have HD too, and if I do, I could have passed it onto my (at the time) 6 month old son as well; my sister is at risk and her two children too; and my extended family were already being directly impacted by HD.

Huntington's Disease Association helped us to make sense of the situation, gave us information, provided support, guidance and direction, with vital answers to the question - what do we do next? They were fantastic.

I am one of the lucky ones - after 15 months of support from the HDA and the NHS I decided to take the test to find out if I carried the faulty gene - it came back negative. I didn't have HD and could therefore not pass it onto my children either. However, even though I may not be personally affected by the disease, my wider family continue to be directly affected by the disease.

I wanted to give something back to the HDA for their support to my family and for the support they give to everyone else affected by HD. Running a marathon seemed like a good way to do that and I managed to get a place at London! I'm running with my close friend Helen - it's going to be my first marathon and her last one - we're both very excited to be doing this for HDA and we need your help to make it all worthwhile!

Please donate what you can :) xxx

The Huntington's Disease Association supports anyone who is affected by Huntington's disease across England and Wales. They pursue the best possible care; provide training & advice to families and professionals; raise awareness, and promote research towards better treatment and care.