Posted by Sean Connelly on August 31, 2018, 10:05 am
Hi all
Another year, another Great North Run....in fact our 18th consecutive year that Louise & I will be making our pilgrimage to the North East on Sunday 9th September to take part with another 55+K runners pounding the streets of Newcastle all the way to the sea front in South Shields.
That means its our 18th time for asking for your generosity in donating whatever you can spare to our chosen charity which this year is Parkinsons UK. This time it will be in the memory of Louise's dad Brian, who sadly lost his brave battle against this cruel disease early this year.
The number of people diagnosed with Parkinson's in the UK is about 145,000. That's around 1 adult in every 350. Most people diagnosed are 50+ but it can affect younger people too. An ex colleague of Louise’s was diagnosed when he was 8 years old. Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition. It causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time. People with Parkinson's don't have enough of the chemical dopamine because some of the nerve cells that make it have died.*
Symptoms vary greatly from person to person, so it might not be a slight tremor, short shuffling steps, painful rigidity or a lack of movement you notice first. It affects the facial muscles so it could be a loss of facial expressions, language, difficulty when swallowing food, sleeping problems, nightmares, anxiety or depression.* Throughout the 8 years since his diagnosis, Brian suffered from all of these symptoms.
There are lots of different treatments, therapies and support available to help manage the condition. Parkinson’s UK is working hard to develop new and better treatments - and one day a cure.
We would be most grateful if you could help us help this great charity continue it's work and it's continuing support to all sufferers of this dreadful disease and their families.
All we need to do now is get on with some very last minute training, especially Louise and hope our current injuries don't trouble us too much on the day.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your donation.
Regards
Sean & Louise
P.S. If you can only support one good cause then Dave Harney's Run to Pegasus would be the one to go for. Great cause and a tough challenge. Respect!
I always like to include this link
* Parkinson’s UK website
Re: Annual call for support...UPDATE
Posted by Sean Connelly on September 12, 2018, 11:35 am, in reply to "Annual call for support..." Sean Connelly
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for their generous sponsorship for Parkinson’s UK in support of Louise & I on last weekend’s Great North Run, it is greatly appreciated as ever.
The weekend went well albeit a bit emotional at the start for Louise thinking of her dad. But despite her lack of training, bad back and having to start further back she got round without any issues and in good time to catch the end of the Red Arrows display at the finish in South Shields.
I was very pleased with my run as I hadn’t expected to do so well after a good start to the year but improved on my best time from last year for this course by 1m 45secs to do it in 01:31:48 giving me my highest placing of 650th out of 43,600 finishers. Not too bad for a fifty year old now!
I can't really put it in words what it's like to be part of this event. I do quite a few races every year, but this is the one I look forward to. To be part of something so huge with the majority of runners facing the challenge or raising as much money as they can for a good cause and maybe in the memory of someone they have lost. To see the elation on their faces when they cross the finish line, whatever the time, and despite the pain that some of them are actually in is very, very humbling. Makes me feel proud that we make the effort to travel up their, spend the weekend and become a part of it all. Having the support from friends, family, colleagues and strangers just makes it seem like the right thing to do.
Thank you all again and I hope you're looking forward to doing it all again for number 19 next year
Sean & Louise
P.S. So far we have raised £540 + gift aid but hope that we can raise some more, so if you would like to donate our website is still accepting donations. Thank you.
