Back in 2020, when we were all preoccupied with Covid-19, a family that I've been friends with for almost 20 years had even more to worry about. Amy, the eldest daughter of my long-time friend Rebecca, had a stroke at the age of just 24, after which it was discovered she had what is called a cavernoma.

A cavernoma is a cluster of abnormal blood vessels in the brain. Often, a person can have one and never know it, but on rare occasions they bleed, causing strokes or seizures.

As Amy's cavernoma was getting ever more troublesome, it was decided that brain surgery was the best course of action. On February 15th, 2023, Amy had a successful operation to remove her cavernoma. She was lucky in that it was operable. Some are not, and some people can have multiple cavernomas.

It's been a very traumatic time for all of Amy's family, so, in May, I joined Rebecca as part of her intrepid team of "brAMYacs", as we successfully walked from London to Brighton (100km / ~62 miles) inside 2 days, in an effort to raise money for Cavernoma Alliance UK, a very small charity set up to support and help those with this rare disease.

It's a frightening time when first diagnosed, and the Cavernoma Alliance UK are a wonderful support for the cavernoma community. You can read more about them towards the bottom of this page, or on their web site.

Please give whatever you can afford, to support this important charity. Thank you.

You can also follow Rebecca's blog, tracking her training towards this epic walk, how the walk itself ultimately went, and Amy's medical progress, at: https://brAMYacs.blogspot.com/

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