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On September 7th 2014 I will be running the Great North Run for Action for ME. As some of you may know I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in January 2013.

Myalgia means muscle pain and encephalomyelitis means inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. M.E. is defined by the World Health Organisation as a neurological condition. It affects everyone to varying degrees but the main symptom is severe fatigue and malaise along with brain and central nervous system dysfunction, muscular pain and impaired immune system.

Like many cases my onset was linked to a viral infection. Prior to being diagnosed I was ill with recurrent tonsillitis for over 6 months. I would push through and return to work only to become ill again. Not quite eat, sleep, rave, repeat.

After being diagnosed things seemed to get worse before they got better. The more sleep I had the more I needed, and on average my sleeping pattern would be 12 hours through the night and 6 hours through the day. On one occasion I had fallen asleep on a Sunday and woken up on Tuesday.  I lost my appetite and even simple tasks became exhausting. I would regularly black out/fit and my heartbeat was continually racing. I was in and out of hospital and underwent numerous tests such as EEG’S and MRI’s.  I ended up bed bound for a period of time and when I was awake I would have severe word finding difficulties… not so hot for a Speech and Language Therapist. All together I was signed off for 4 months and returned back to full time work in October 2013.

I'm now 1.5  years post diagnosis and pretty much leading a normal life by following a strict exercise regime advised by the wonderful ME team at City Hospital. There is no cure for ME, however graded exercise therapy enables me to manage my illness. Without the ME team and my AMAZING parents and friends I wouldn't be where I am today.

So loving a good challenge, I decided to challenge myself to run 13.1 miles for Action for ME. Those who know me know I'm not a runner and that my style could give Phoebe from Friends a run for her money. So please sponsor me, no matter how big or small as all donations will be greatly appreciated to support such a fantastic charity.

"I do not train to run faster, I train to remove quit from my body and from my mind."