I will be running 150 kilometres during the month of October as my partner’s son has recently been diagnosed with Perthes disease .

Perthes disease or Legg-Calve-Perthes disease as it is sometimes known, is a rare childhood condition that affects the hip. The blood supply to the hip bone is disrupted, causing bone cells to die, which erodes the hip and causes pain in the process.Unfortunately medical agreement on the best way to treat Perthes has not yet been reached. It is treated in various ways but pain management remains a key issues faced by many children. At times, parents are told to "wait and see" to enable the doctors to assess how to best treat their child's condition. As the condition is not well known, it could occur that the child is not correctly diagnosed with Perthes disease leaving the hip to erode resulting in an odd shape. The effects of Perthes into adulthood are still very much unknown. Doctors have very limited information on how many adults require a hip replacement (if any) and if the disease has had long term consequences on their daily activities.