On the 16^th October we will be running the Great
South Run for Vasculitis UK, a charity extremely close to all of our hearts.

Last year in the midst of the pandemic, in March 2021, one
of our best friends Sarah Bennett was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of
vasculitis, called Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) formerly known as
Wegener’s granulomatosis.

GPA is a rare and life threatening disorder that restricts
the blood flow to several organs, including the lungs, kidneys and upper
respiratory tract.

Despite being diagnosed in March of last year, Sarah was not
given treatment until September – sadly there is nowhere near enough known
about this disease, and for this reason the treatment often starts far too
late. Sarah had to go through months and months of agonizing tests before they
finally found out what was wrong, and then it was months before she began
painful infusions. Last year alone Sarah went through over fifty blood tests,
five infusions, one surgery, two CT scans and an ultrasound.

GPA is currently incurable; diseases like Sarah’s are
massively overlooked and underfunded when it comes to treatment and research,
and this is why we are putting ourselves through a gruelling ten mile
run/stagger to raise much needed funds for Vasculitis UK. We have seen our best
friend go through the most unbelievable struggles; from years of feeling unwell
with no diagnosis, to the tests to get to the bottom of what was wrong, and
then the difficult treatments that are still continuing to keep her as well as
possible.

Sarah has fought through it all with the kind of strength
and stubbornness that we all expected of her, even if we never wanted to have
to see her deal with anything this tough. She is the same funny, strong person
she has always been and with the funds we raise for this charity we hope that
she can feel as well as possible with this incurable disease, and that others
facing this incredibly tough diagnosis can too.

Sarah will also be completing the 10 miles – any and all
donations, no matter how small, will be massively appreciated and will be a
huge help to an underfunded charity like Vascuilitis UK.

Thank you, so much.

Team Sezzy x