Ellana’s London Marathon Page

With £545 raised on my Enthuse site and £2475 raised on this GoFundMe, I am delighted to have raised OVER £3000 FOR VERSUS ARTHRITIS!!!!

In 2019, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). When most people hear the word 'arthritis' they say "isn't that what old people get?" or "my friend has that in her knee." RA isn't something you get from an injury, wear and tear or old age. It is an autoimmune disease that can affect anyone of any age (currently around 1% of the UK population).

RA is a chronic condition where your immune system attacks the healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation, stiffness, intense pain and extreme fatigue. It mainly impacts your joints but can also affect your organs such as the liver, heart, eyes and lungs. People with autoimmune diseases are also more susceptible to infections and illness. It is unknown what causes autoimmune diseases like RA, but it needs to be treated quickly and effectively to prevent irreversible joint damage and permanent disability or even premature mortality.

Having RA can feel like your body has betrayed you. Figuring out how to accept and love yourself with a chronic illness is something that requires you to constantly push back against the idea of normal and the expectations that your body can readily do what you previously took for granted.

I started getting pains in my hands and feet which quickly worsened until I was unable to walk, dress myself, or do the simplest tasks like opening a pencil case. I was told that it is progressive, will not go away, and that I will need to have treatment for life. As someone pursuing a career in the arts, this was devastating news.

My initial treatment was unsuccessful. It caused a severe reaction and I felt like I would never get better. My drama school told me that I would need to defer if I missed more than half a term. Having worked so hard to get there, I was determined to tough it out until an effective treatment was found.

It was unusual enough for a 19 year old to be hit with this challenge, but the Covid pandemic (declared 4 months later) heightened that challenge since I fell into a high risk category. I had been extremely unwell from my first treatment and needed to find the protection of a new treatment. I was told to shield because I was vulnerable. That left me feeling isolated and pretty scared, with an acute sense of being robbed of being young, at a time when being a student should be fun and exciting. You often are told "but you don't look sick" or "hopefully it will go away soon." I was proud to find the mental and emotional resilience to hold to my goals and keep pressing on until a solution was found.

Running the London Marathon will be a big personal challenge. Achieving it has similarities to living with a long term condition like RA. Every day you wake up knowing you have to face it, plan ahead, and put in consistent effort to manage it to get the best possible 'journey' and end result. You know you can't do it alone but don't want to burden others. There are days when you wonder why you should bother - you feel defeated and exhausted, self-doubting and disappointed. But if you can hang on to why you need to make the effort and give it your best shot, that reason is enough to keep you going, provide fresh motivation and energy, and encourage you to reach out for support and accept help when it is needed.

Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me. You will be helping to fund research for breakthrough treatments and offer hope and support for the 400,000 people across the UK suffering with Rheumatoid Arthritis.