I'm both excited and nervous to be taking part in the 2024 TCS London Marathon (my first ever marathon!) to raise money for Cure Parkinson's, an organisation doing so much and very close to my heart since my Dad was diagnosed with the condition in 2020.

Parkinson’s is a degenerative neurological condition characterised by tremors, stiffness, slowness of movement and balance problems, as well as problems with cognition, speech, swallowing, depression and more. Around 145,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson’s, and it is considered to be one of the fastest growing neurological conditions worldwide with 1 in 37 people receiving a diagnosis of Parkinson’s in their lifetime.

Shockingly, treatment for Parkinson’s disease is still pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago… and those treatments weren’t even developed with Parkinson’s patients in mind! Many patients end up on a cocktail of medications that each come with their own set of side effects. Due to lack of understanding it is often left up to the patient to decide the doses and regimen of medications which can be overwhelming and leave them feeling under supported.

Cure Parkinson’s funds innovative research which is dedicated to finding new treatments that can slow, stop or reverse Parkinson’s. The variety of research projects Cure Parkinson’s is brilliant, with research at all stages of the clinical pipeline with a large clinical focus which is so important for getting treatments to patients. With more 32% of their funded therapeutics so far being regarded as potentially curative treatments the work that is being done is obviously highly valuable and worth supporting.

To me, something that I can easily to do help push these treatments through is to raise money to help support this important work and this is why I am delighted for my first ever marathon to be completed on behalf of Cure Parkinson’s. I hope that the money I raise will contribute to the research that will go on to help many more patients like my Dad.

Thank you for your support!