Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am excited to take part in the 2022 London Marathon to raise money and awareness to help people with both diagnosed and undiagnosed thyroid disease in their quest for better health.

I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease just as we entered the pandemic in 2020.  I knew something wasn’t right when I started losing lots of weight and running was so difficult.  It felt like I had led weights on my ankles and my body felt like it had been pushed to its limits even after a slow jog.

Being aware of how my body & heart rate normally function I pushed the doctors for blood tests to be done and quickly received the diagnosis.

To someone who loves being active this was a huge blow.  Not only does Graves’ disease leave you extremely fatigued, it changes  your mood and outlook,  you feel extremely anxious and lack confidence, constant palpitations & hand tremors make sleeping difficult even when you are so tired. It makes your full body work on overdrive and you loose weight very quickly.  Swelling around your eyes, light sensitivity & pain & pressure isn’t much fun either.  Left un- treated it can lead to heart failure and brittle bones.  It’s a life long condition but luckily can be controlled, firstly with medication and other options further down the line.

2 years down the line and……

I am so grateful that I can run again. I love running….. running is the best 💕

I want to raise awareness so others affected can get help quickly to manage their butterfly 🦋 when it doesn’t work as it should do and help them to continue doing what they love to do too.

Thanks for reading, any donations are kindly appreciated.  

Kirsty 🦋🏃🏻‍♀️💜