I decided early this year that I was going to take part in this year's Cardiff Half Marathon to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. I chose this charity as both my step-mother, Nicola Davies and her sister Mandy Williams suffer from the disease.

I have never been a runner and my goal was simply to complete the half marathon (13.1 miles). My training was going well and on Sunday 14th June I was due to take part in my first 10K race. Unfortunately, on this day, my aunt, Mandy Williams lost her fight to Muscular Dystrophy and sadly passed away.

It is therefore no longer my goal to simply complete the half marathon but to complete it in a good time. Mandy struggled through her life for 53 years and therefore running for 2 hours is the least I can do in the memory of her.

I am determined to raise as much money as I possibly can to aid in fighting against this disease and hopefully one day find a cure. Muscular Dystrophy is a muscle wasting disease. My aunt was a very talented person. She was a beautiful singer until the disease weakened her lungs so much she could not sing. She was a piano teacher until her muscles became too weak and a tracheotomy took away her voice completely. Not one to give up, Mandy then turned to composing music, winning National Competitions until the disease took away her ability to play the piano and eventually she became too weak to write.

Please help me by donating as much as you can spare to this cause. This money will be used in the scientific research towards a cure for this disease so that other people like Mandy and Nicola won't have to suffer and struggle and their talents will not be stifled by this horrible muscle wasting disease.

Thank you for reading. Diolch am ddarllen.

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