Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I've decided to raise funds for a charity that has become very important to us as a family, Vasculitis UK ❤️

In July 2021, my amazingly fit and healthy husband, James, was admitted to hospital with developing symptoms of what we later discovered was an incredibly rare disease called EGPA (formerly known as Churg-Strauss); it's a type of Vasculitis.

It was tough 😔 While he was in hospital, we 3 were at home isolating, as our daughter had tested positive for Covid, and so none of us could visit him 😢 plus she missed her last 10 days of primary school 🥺

James was in hospital for 2 weeks. He had a tonne of investigations, then the news came that they needed to "treat this thing aggressively," and he started chemo 😯

When he came home, he had lost 2 stone (which he didn't have spare to lose!), he could barely walk due to severe pain and resorted to a wheelchair to get around indoors. He was off work for 3 months and couldn't drive 😟

⏩️ Fast forward 18 months, and things are very different, thankfully! He is now back to his pre-illness weight, and is not only driving again, but is regaining his fitness with 5k runs (the snazzy splint is gone though!!) and hour-long bike rides, as well as football coaching and a home strengthening programme. He's putting me to shame!

It's been heartwarming to be on the receiving end of incredible NHS care and intervention, and we are super lucky that he is now on the ultimate treatment for this condition with 4-weekly injections 😁

I'm repeating this fundraising event almost exactly a year after my last one, which fell on Rare Disease Day, 28th February! 

Thanks for your support 🙏

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