Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. On Sunday 27th March, I am running a 50 mile ultramarathon at Salcey Forest (halfway between Milton Keynes and Northampton) with my cousin, Harry. I am doing this to help raise funds for the charity Mind so they can continue to provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

Those of you who know me will know that I enjoy running but until recently I had never ran more than 20 miles in one go. I have now ran 30 miles in my training, in a time of 5 hours and 45 minutes. I slowed considerably towards the end and it was one of the longest and most attritional physical challenges I've ever experienced. On the day Harry and I will need to run 20 miles further under a cut off time of 12 hours.

Thank you so much in advance for your support. This will be a massive challenge for me and Harry. The more you donate the more it will spur us on!

If you have the time, please read the story below written by Harry. Harry has been quite open about his own personal battle with mental health and it is very brave of him to share his story.

"Drugs, alcohol, and bad mental health, are things that go hand in hand. 

I believe we have more of problem than we like to let on in the UK, ranking 17th in the world for opiate abuse (with a small population of 67 million), and consuming over 11.3 litres of pure alcohol, per person, per year.

(that's not 11.3 litres of 5% beer, that's 11.3 litres of 100% pure alcohol, per person)

I could go on about statistics to prove that we have a problem, like in 2015 - 16 figures showing, 21% of all hospitalisations were due to drug, or alcohol abuse. But, I think it would be best to share a personal story with addiction that I beat with some help.

Left is me, passed out on a pretty typical night, after consuming 10, 5mg xanax (my daily intake), copious amounts of alcohol, and a bottle of lean (codiene cough syrup).

Right is me 4 years later, happy & healthy, with my beautiful girlfriend.

By age 22, I had hospitalised myself 4 times, had multiple overdoses, a seizure that made me froth at the mouth and turn blue, scared my entire family & friends to death, but despite all that - none of it was enough to crack my addiction.

I needed help, but the help wasn't readily available.

So I tried to stop without help, which as you can imagine, didn't go very well haha!

(cue a week, of hyper-realistic hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, not knowing who you are, or where you are, and wrap it up all nice, with a hospital trip at the end of it)

So after this, naturally I tried to get help.

There were huge long wait lists, for overworked NHS therapists, who had to prioritise on whether you were really going to die or not, and could only offer 3 months treatment, to people who couldn't function.

(I could go to work on drugs so it was all good 😂👍)

There were calls to services who turned me away because "I wasn't really an addict, or I was faking it, and I should just stop taking drugs".

So, instead of taking that advice, I did the total opposite, and went back to taking drugs again.

Finally, after a couple months, I was tripping on acid, and had a realisation (cliché I know). 

With pupils as big as dishplates, I looked at myself in the mirror, and said:

"If I have done the work it takes to damage myself this much, I am capable of doing the work it takes to get back".

And from that point, I got paid therapy for 6 months. 

(which even with that, it was a rocky road to full recovery, with many relapses)

Unfortunately, most people don't have access to the funds they need for help, which is why sponsoring me to run this event can help save someones life.

Without that help & support, I wouldn't have been able to turn my life around.

And, there is someone out there right now, who is in the same position as I was - they want to change, but don't know how, or don't have access to the resources to help them.

There isn't enough funding for mental health and addiction in our NHS, and "...three in four people with a mental health problem in England receive little or no treatment for their condition, [with] large gaps in terms of health outcomes – people with the most severe mental illnesses die on average 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population".

It's shocking we live in a country with so much money but don't have the capacity to help more people.

It's a bigger problem than you think. And, I'm sure you can think of someone you know who has been depressed, or drinks a bit too much.

Let's change that together by raising the funds to help more people lead happy and healthy lives.

Wishing you lots of happiness and success in your life.

Harry"

Harry's JustGiving Page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/50-miles-to-a-clearer-mind?utm_term=9BXGZdEWq