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Last year I decided that for my 50th birthday in 2018 I wanted to do something that I would remember, I didn't want to go on a holiday, get a new car, get a tattoo, I wanted to do something that would challenge me, test me, excite me and scare me! (just a little). So I decided that I would register for the UK Ironman at Bolton.

For those of you that have not heard of an Ironman event it is basically a triathlon but very long, in fact the swim is 2.4 miles in open water, the ride is 112 miles and after that you finish with a Marathon of 26.2 miles completing 140.6 miles in a time limit of 17 hours. Just to put this in perspective so far I have completed one Sprint Triathlon - 400m pool swim, 12 miles cycle ride and 3 mile run (it seemed the natural progression was to Ironman!).

The Ironman ticked all of my prerequisites and the response of my friends and family has been a mixture of surprise and even more surprise! Other than '..but why?..' the next most popular question has been '...what charity are you doing it for?..' with more surprise when I respond 'none', but a number of people have requested that I support a charity as they wish to sponsor me, so I agreed.

That left which charity should I choose, and for me that is a very easy decision as again those who know me well also know that this year is my 10th year since I was diagnosed with a colonic tumour, in December 2008 I underwent surgery to remove the tumour and received the wonderful news on Christmas Eve that the tumour was benign, this news was only mildly tempered with news that I had Crohns Disease.

Crohns Disease is a debilitating and aggressive form of Inflammatory Bowl Disease (IBD), it affects 5 million people worldwide and 100,000+ in the UK and numbers are increasing, especially in children. It is an auto-immune condition where your own immune system starts to attack and destroy your digestive system leading to chronic severe abdominal pain, weight loss, bloody diarrhea, and chronic fatigue. 80% of Crohns patients need surgery at some point in their lifetime, there is currently no cure and most suffers are blighted by multiple hospitalisations, surgeries, immunosuppressive therapies (which can have severe side effects).

It is a condition that is not visible but I am very open with people that I have Crohns Disease not for sympathy but just for people to understand I may not be on top form, and it has certainly tested me over the last 10 years (and before it was diagnosed), I have made a pact with myself that unless I'm in hospital I will be at work and this has been the case, but I have had to have a number of surgeries  and have been admitted to hospital on a number of occasions. Without a cure the objective is to keep the Crohns in remission by whatever means necessary (surgery, drugs, diet etc.) but this is not always possible and if a 'flare' occurs it is very debilitating, painful, tiring and cumulative.

I can assure you that operating day to day has it challenges and then add to that the training needed to take part and complete an Ironman which is considered one of the hardest one day events makes life very interesting. Getting up at 5 in the morning to complete the first training session of the day, then work and back for the next sessions is the only way you could give this event justice. I have had a couple of 'flares' whilst training and it has been a test, but for me the Crohns is just another variable that I have had to manage and will have to manage on the 15th July 2018.

So you know why I chose Crohns, but why this charity? Well its because Kings College Hospital is currently conducting the 2nd Phase of trials for a Crohns MAP Vaccine and Cure. It needs £470,000 and unfortunately this is generally funded from charities and people like myself, it is not until the cure is proven that there will be interest from large companies, therefore please donate if you can no matter how much, if you can't please read a little about the condition and be aware that not all conditions are visible.

For more information please follow these links;

Information about Crohns:

https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/about-inflammatory-bowel-disease/what-are-the-symptoms

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/crohns-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353304

Information about the Crohns Vaccine Trail:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/crohnsmapvaccine-men9150