Matthew Carlyon
Matthew is fundraising for the NDCS!
Fundraising for The National Deaf Children's Society
Story
Four years ago, I met my partner. I'd always known she had a dead daughter but left it for a few months before meeting her but once I did I fell for her straight away. Even though she couldn't speak, she was so expressive with British Sign Language and you wouldn't be able to tell she had gone through much already in her short life. From then on I was introduced to the NDCS.
There are currently over 45,000 deaf children and young adults in the UK,and this can be for a handful of reasons including genetics (the reason for my step-daughter's deafness). Currently hearing aids and cochlear implants are used to assist children to be able to hear. Cochlear implants are hearing aids that include a magnetic coil being placed in the skull of the child to help anchor the equipment as well as provide clearer sound. My step-daughter had this procedure performed at 2 years old. At the time, the NDCS were by my partners side for it all.
The reason money needs to be raised is because firstly deafness is not a learning disability, yet 65% of deaf children in England fail to achieve five GCSE grades A*-C (including English and maths). As well as being isolated, bullied and abused by other children, deaf children are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem as well as being 60% more likely to develop a mental health issue.
I decided in February 2014 that I needed to lose weight as I was obese and it was affecting my depression. Initially I intended on dieting but then decided on going for a run and I loved it. It all moved quickly forward from there. By April, I had decided to run for the NDCS to raise awareness for all the great work they do as well as break down the barriers between deaf children and their peers. In May, I signed up for my first 5K race and started a strict training program. In 4 months I lost 4 stone and was well on the way to getting into racing condition. My final goal is to eventually start running marathons.
So far, as a warm up for my NDCS races I've only signed up for one race raising money for Movember:
- The Cardiff 5K Mo-Run (15th November 2014)
The races I'm due to sign up for and raise money for the NDCS are:
- St. David's Day 10K Run (1st March 2015)
- Cardiff Half Marathon 2015 (TBA)
After completing these races I hope to springboard myself into completing two or three marathons a year. I also hope to start doing foreign marathons. Because I'm young I hope to have many years racing in the future to help raise as much money for the NCDS as possible. I am also hoping to be part of the Seven Continents Club one day; this club consists of marathoners that have completed a race in each continent.
The foreign races that I have shortlisted are:
AFRICA
- Great Ethiopian Run - Ethiopia
- Johannesburg City Marathon - South Africa
- Kilimanjaro Marathon - Tanzania
- Nairobi Marathon - Kenya
- The Big Five Marathon - South Africa
- Two Oceans Marathon - South Africa
ANTARCTICA
- Antarctic Ice Marathon
ASIA
- Beijing International Marathon - China
- Hong Kong Marathon - Japan
- Intercontinental Istanbul-Eurasia Marathon - Turkey
- Phuket International Marathon - Thailand
- Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon - Thailand
- Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon - India
- The Great Wall of China Marathon - China
- Tokyo Marathon - Japan
- Xiamen International Marathon - China
EUROPE
- Amsterdam Marathon - Netherlands
- Athens Classic Marathon - Greece
- Barcelona Marathon - Spain
- Berlin Marathon - Germany
- Bilbao Night Marathon - Spain
- Cardiff Marathon - Wales
- Dublin Marathon - Ireland
- Edinburgh Marathon - Scotland
- Great North Run - England
- London Marathon - England
- Marathon International de Paris - France
- Midnight Sun Marathon - Norway
- Mont Saint-Michel Bay Marathon - France
- Rome Marathon - Italy
NORTH AMERICA
- Big Sur International Marathon - USA
- Boston Marathon - USA
- Chicago Marathon - USA
- Colfax Marathon - USA
- Honolulu Marathon - Hawaii
- Malibu International Marathon - USA
- Missoula Marathon - USA
- New York City Marathon - USA
- Puerto Rico Marathon - Puerto Rico
- Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon - USA
- San Francisco Marathon - USA
- Walt Disney World Marathon - USA
- Wineglass Marathon - USA
OCEANIA
- Auckland Marathon - New Zealand
- Gold Coast Marathon - Australia
- Rotorua Marathon - New Zealand
- Sydney Marathon - Australia
SOUTH AMERICA
- Corrida International de Sao Silvestre - Brazil
- Easter Island Marathon - Chile
- Inca Trail Marathon - Peru
- Rio de Janerio Marathon - Brazil
I hope to start doing marathons within the next 18 months and will keep this page up to date with photos and videos of my races and travels as well as keeping a log of my races times. Your donations really do help as the more you give, the more I can do which will raise more awareness for childhood deafness.
The NDCS depends entirely on charitable donations and the support of the public and volunteers to be able to do their work.
Your donations can help in so many ways.
A donation of £5 a month for a year provides support to a family to enable their child to obtain the education and welfare benefits they are entitled too.
A donation of £10 a month for a year pays for an equipment grant for a low income family - where they would not be able to afford it themselves.
A donation of £15 gives a family with a newly identified deaf baby 30 minutes of support and information in over 100 languages from a fully qualified worker on the NDCS national Helpline.
A donation of £50 allows the NDCS to work directly with a family, supporting them to get the education and welfare benefits entitled to their child.
A donation of £100 provide families with the information they need to know when they first find out their baby is deaf.
You can also donate to my fundraising page using JustTextGiving. Just text NDCS92 followed by the amount you with to donate to 70070. i.e. NDCS92 £5 to donate £5.
Thank you so much for your support and your donation really does makes a difference, both to the charity and to me personally. Every penny donated is appreciated by the NDCS.
The NDCS relies solely on charitable donations so please donate to this great charity.
htttp://www.ndcs.org.uk