- UPDATE - 

Hello everyone - firstly thank you SO much for donating. It means the world to me!

Unfortunately I think I was a bit naïve with regards to my hip / lower back when I set this goal in Jan. Sadly, it has been a huge problem and I haven't been able to run or even walk large distances without being in pain - went on a 7 mile walk last weekend and the last 2 miles were v unpleasant, leaving me in pain for several days afterwards. This is really frustrating as I was looking forward to it and it just doesn't seem like I'd be able to do it without actually causing myself a lot of pain.

SO, sob story over, I'm going to do something else that scares me - jump out of a plane. People who know me well will know that I don't particularly like flying, or heights, and that I'm actually quite a risk averse person. However this is something that I've always actually wanted to do so this feels like the right opportunity to gather the minerals to actually do it! I'm currently talking to MS Society about where / when I can do this so watch this space. I can't change the page picture for some reason but just wanted to reassure everyone that their donations will still be going to MS Society and I will be taking any costs involved in skydiving myself.

Many many thanks and lots of love,

Tom xoxo

HALLO - thank you for making it this far. Please consider reading a bit further!

A lot of people will probably know (as they may have seen or been involved with my previous big effort - the fabled 7-day 24-hours-a-day MIXATHON at Exeter), but a lot of people probably won’t know (seeing as this was a decade ago..) that my dear mam has secondary progressive MS. Another fundraising attempt on her behalf was well overdue - so here we are.

MS is an unpleasant neurodegenerative illness that has no cure and has 3 key types: relapsing / remitting, secondary progressive and primary progressive. 

Sarah (my mum) was diagnosed with relapsing / remitting shortly after I was born and decided to have another child (my sister, Hannah) even though she was advised it could make her MS worse. Thank god she did - as I’m certain Hannah’s existence in the world is intrinsically a good thing. Her relapsing / remitting steadily got worse over the course of our childhoods and when I was in my mid teens, mum was unfortunately involved in a serious car crash and in hospital for several weeks. Post-crash her decline progressed at a significantly faster rate (Doctors said that the trauma of the accident had brought on secondary progressive). Fast forward to now and she is effectively quadriplegic and is under the full time care of my amazing dad and a part timer carer.

The above is the raw context but it says nothing about her strength, dignity and patience with a condition that has left her unable to do pretty much anything unaided. She never complains. She always has some great advice for me. She is still a funny, positive character and everyone’s number 1 choice for a general knowledge board game. She can still absolutely roast me when she wants to. She is a true inspiration when it comes to her commitment to life and her remarkable stoicism. 

SO - why (aside from the obvious good cause) - should you donate some money? For my sins, I’ve signed up to run a half marathon in April (the london landmarks half). My back is pretty fooked at the moment but I will make it round the half even if I have to walk it on the day. Any donations will make the miles all the more worth it.

I have specified that the money donated will be spent on R&D - as that’s where my mum would like it to go :)

I understand that this is a very financially difficult time for a lot of people, so any amounts you can give really are appreciated. It’s a great cause x