Thanks for taking the time to check out the fundraising page for my upcoming "Miles For Mollie" event. The premise is simple; between the 17th - 21st April I intend to run 250 miles before taking on the London Marathon on the 23rd April. I'll run 50 miles a day from Monday to Friday before taking on the marathon on the Sunday, meaning I will have ran a grand total of 276.2 miles in 7 days. I've no idea how the fudge I'm going to pull this one off but after giving it the big one I've now got to pull my feet out of my mouth and get them pounding the pavement in preparation.

For context as to why I'm doing this, my bee ZuZu is best friends with a wonderful little girl called Mollie who suffers with a rare neurodegenerative childhood disease called Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T). This debilitating condition essentially limits Mollie's physical functions vs her peers, with symptoms including poor balance and reduced motor coordination (ataxia) being the most prominent (where children are often described as ‘wobbly’). Other signs include small spider-like clusters of red blood vessels in the corner of the eyes and cheeks (telangiectasia), further deterioration of motor skills, involuntary movements, abnormal eye movements and difficulty with speech. Children with A-T also have an immune deficiency and a massively increased risk of childhood cancers but due to the disease causing sensitivity to radiation children with A-T cannot tolerate traditional cancer treatments.

ZuZu and MolMols are BFF's who love nothing more than to play, dance and hug (they bloody hug a lot). However, as a parent, it's truly heartbreaking to see the different trajectories they're on; the progressive effects of the disease mean that without a treatment or cure Mollie, like many other children with A-T, will become fully dependent on a wheelchair by the age of 10. She already suffers with extreme fatigue, her fine motor skills make every day tasks a big challenge and we know that this will only be impacted as tremors increase within the next few years. The disease fully takes hold between the age of 5 to 10 years - so we've only a few short years to try and change things for Mollie who will be completely aware that she is quickly losing the ability to do things she once could.

With the help of Action For A-T, we're hoping to give Mollie, and many other children just like her, a fighting chance which is why I've chosen to not just settle for the London Marathon, but to push my body to extremes I've never imagined in a bid to help raise the funds and profile of both Mollie and the charity.

If you're able to chuck as little as a quid my way, I can assure you it will go to a good home in Action For A-T and will be appreciated by both me, Mollie's awesome family as well as the charity themselves.

Thanks for reading and if you want to know more (or watch me run myself in to a hole), please head over to the charity page or my insta (links below).

www.instagram.com/iamdavidwilliams

https://actionforat.org