My name is Maria Spiteri and I live in South Wales.  I have been hoping to compete in the London Marathon for a couple of years now– and it’s far from easy to get a place.  It works on a ballot system and you have to enter at the end of April.  Out of all the many thousands of applicants, only 25,000 are accepted as competitors. In October, I heard that I had not been successful –  It only made me more determined than ever to compete. Another route is via a charity.  I have chosen this route because I am determined to take part whilst raising awareness for a worthwhile charity. 

The charity I am proud to support is called Sense  which is a national charity that campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. The charity sets out to improve the lives of those whose sight and hearing is seriously impaired, to help them and their families to cope with the challenges they face on a daily basis.  It provides new opportunities for the deafblind enabling them to do things that would not have been possible without the help that Sense offers.  Your help will make an enormous difference to the work that Sense is able to do.  £5 will enable a deafblind child to have a set of musical bells to stimulate what little hearing they have.  £15 will provide a tactile book to develop a child's sense of sight and touch at a Sense family centre.  £50 will pay for a vitally important professional assessment of a child’s specific needs.  

Every donation, of whatever size, will enable a deafblind person to participate in enjoyable and stimulating activities which would have been denied to them without the help of Sense. Do give all the help and support that you can, and follow the progress of my journey via my fundraising page. Warmest thanks in advance for your help and support and thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.