Hello everyone!

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be running the 2024 London Marathon on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy UK.

For those who don’t know, Muscular Dystrophy UK is a charity that holds a very special place in the hearts of my family and I. At the age of 14, over 11 years ago now, my younger brother Tom was diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

FSHD is a genetic condition that causes progressive and significant muscle wasting/degeneration across the whole body. However the face, upper arms and shoulder blades are typically the most affected.  There is no cure and there are no treatments. Being the third most common type of muscular dystrophy, between 3 and 5 people out of every 100,000 have the condition.

The impact on Tom has been significant to say the least. Right from the outset at the time of diagnosis when he was told he had to stop playing rugby, up to the present day as day to day tasks prove increasingly more challenging over time. 

Tom is exceptional however with how he soldiers on every day. Those that know about Tom and his condition can attest to his amazing character (and stubbornness at times!) in light of a fairly crap hand that he’s been dealt.

Given all of this I wanted to run the marathon for him with the hope that ongoing research into an effective treatment is successful in the near future. For this to happen not only am I looking to raise funds here but also awareness. My family had no idea about MD prior to Tom’s diagnosis. It’s our hope that through sharing, re-posting, forwarding links and conversations (sorry in advance for relentlessly plugging!) more and more people can understand what MD is and why it’s so important that treatments are found. Not only for Tom, but for the 70,000 others in the UK living with MD too. MD UK does exceptional work in helping these impacted individuals and families.

Training for a marathon with a target time of 3hrs & 15mins alongside a full rugby season finishing 2 weeks before the marathon date will I’m sure present it’s own challenges! 

However it's the least I can do to help support a truly special person who I’m lucky to call my brother and best friend.

Thank you in advance to all of those able to support. 

Thank you also to my employer Brit Insurance as they will donate £2 for every £1 I raise here. Therefore hitting my target would actually result in £19,500 raised which really would be something!