I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at twenty-two years old. Then last summer I found out I had a hyper-active thyroid and anemia. My health had been slowly deteriorating over about two years, and I couldn’t even run a hundred yards without being completely exhausted but having been diagnosed and put on the correct medication, it was amazing, I felt like a new woman, with loads of energy! So I set myself the ultimate challenge – the London Marathon.
Choosing Arthritis Care was just the natural choice, a charity close to my heart. It seems to be an assumption that Arthritis is only suffered by the elderly and that your life is over as you have to wrap yourself in cotton wool. I suppose I’d like to encourage people and say “look if I can do this, then anyone can life is for living and Arthritis only stops you doing things if you let it”. I also, just wanted to raise as much money as possible for a worthwhile charity.