At the end of May I will be in my favourite city, Edinburgh, to run a marathon for the first time ever. Fifteen weeks to go! I’ve started training and it’s very tough actually already. Follow me on Instagram @jakeshaker for progress as I’ll be trying to update as I go and will try to make you laugh as I do it. 

MY STORY

I don’t tell a lot of people this (well literally anyone actually) but I suffered from anorexia for a large part of my teen years when struggling with my mental health and coming to terms with being gay. This is why I will be fundraising as much as I can for BEAT!

This will be a hugely personal challenge to complete AND a feat of endurance that I would never have thought possible when I was suffering as a teenager. 

BEAT are quite clear not to include details, images or habits formed when suffering from an eating disorder so I will not do that here but I will just say that it got very bad. Nikki Grahame’s death last year was quite a shock to me because, for literally no other reason than luck, I got better and she did not. That is why, twelve years on, I want to help others who are struggling.

BEAT

I’m running to raise money for the amazing work Beat do. Beat are the UK’s eating disorder charity and have been around since 1989. About 1.25 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders. Beat have a helpline open 365 days a year for sufferers and their families and friends. They campaign for awareness and better funding and knowledge within the NHS, including reducing waiting times. Demand for the Helpline during lockdown surged by over 70%.

They say: ‘Eating disorders thrive in isolation. Isolation is what they do, they cut people off from family and friends. They tell people they don’t deserve help or they are not ill enough. They tell people they are alone.’

This definitely chimes with my experience and is the reason the helpline is so essential. I’ll be running for my younger self and anybody else suffering from an eating disorder. I hope this will be a positive part of long-term recovery from an ED. 

• £14 pays for a trained Helpline advisor for an hour to provide support, guidance and advice
• £25 pays for information to be displayed in schools and universities
• £76 funds the supervision of five peer support volunteers to help families cope
• £108 provides a parent whose child is ill with regular peer support sessions for one month

Please give anything you can either now or when it’s done! Hopefully there will be some laughs along the way. Last week I tripped over my own feet in Battersea Park so it’s all to play for really.

x