<div>Starting on June 1st this year, I’ll be running from John O'Groats to Land’s End—the length of the UK—to raise money for my Mum’s fight with MS.
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<div>Mum was officially diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2019, after over a decade of various hospital visits and progressive symptoms. For those of you who’ve never heard of it, MS is an autoimmune disease where the immune system basically starts attacking the nerves. It’s a progressive disease, meaning it tends to get worse over time, and unfortunately, there’s no known cure.
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<div>When MS is found early enough, medication and treatments can be put in place to limit its impact. The longer MS is left untreated, the more damage occurs to the nervous system.
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<div>In order for these treatments to be made available, patients need to have an official diagnosis. Despite over a decade of worsening symptoms, because Mum didn’t have an official diagnosis, it took until 2020 for her to access these treatments. By this time Mum had lost most of her mobility (along with other bodily functions being severely impacted) and was completely dependent on using a wheelchair.
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<div>In addition, Mum wasn’t offered the usual (and best) medication because doctors worried that, due to an issue with her white blood cell count being too low, she was considered too high risk for it. This may have also contributed to the severity of her current MS.
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<div>She now needs to be lifted into her chair and experiences weakness, stiffness, intense pain, and fatigue a lot of the day. This can mean simple tasks that take most people minutes can take hours to complete. She spends most of her life at home, downstairs. Going out—whether to see her two grandkids, extended family, or just to get some sunlight—requires huge effort and careful planning.
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<div>Despite all of this, Mum takes her responsibility in the home seriously and has always been the best mother any of us could ask for, even when it means prioritising the needs of the family over her own. I want to raise funds to ensure Mum can finally put her own health first and continue to do so for the coming years.
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<div>Unfortunately, Mum’s current lack of mobility and disease progression will likely mean DMTs (Disease Modifying treatments/therapies) will not be available to her through the NHS in the future.
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<div>These DMTs, along with many other therapies, treatments, and investments that could be made into Mum’s health, are very expensive (that’s putting it lightly.)
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<div>Here’s just a small snapshot of various therapies/ideas Mum could explore and their costs…
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<div>(Mum may not necessarily choose to pursue all of these options, we just thought it would be useful for you to get a bit of an insight and baseline of which treatments are available and their associated costs. Costs are approximate and some may be slightly more or less than listed.)
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<li>Disease Modifying Treatments (DMTs) bought privately once the NHS stops providing: between £8000 and £20,000 each year.
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<li>Modifications to the house to make it more accessible (stairlifts, bathroom modifications, modifications to entrance and exit to allow Mum to get outside): £6000 minimum, likely far higher
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<li>Physiotherapy: £2000/year. (£40/week x 52 weeks)
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<li>Advanced/powered wheelchairs: anywhere from £1000 - £40,000 depending on features on how heavily customised they are
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<li>Domestic help and caring: £10,000 - £30,000 a year depending on time
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<li>Exoskeleton / walking aids: £8000 on lower end to £100,000 on higher end
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<li>Electromuscular stimulus devices: £540/month
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<li>MS specific home gym/exercise stations: £1000 - £20,000 depending on equipment
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<li>Oxygen therapy: £2500/year (if done once weekly)
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<li>Food, supplements and dietary interventions: £2000+/year
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<div>Mum doesn’t expect anyone to feel obliged to help her access these treatments, and she’s never once asked for people to do so, but I would love to give her these options. And as you can see, they add up quite fast.
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<div>Which is why I’m trying to raise a sizable amount of money.
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<div>And since the amount of money I'm trying to raise is quite high, I wanted to do something equally extreme to raise awareness and support.
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<div>Starting on June 1st 2026, I’ll be running the length of the UK from John O Groats to Land’s End—a journey of around 1,100 miles, which will demand a minimum of a marathon a day from me for around 40 days.
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<div>I’ll be doing this while running a full-time online business and documenting the whole process.
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<div>Any support you’re able to give is appreciated—whether through donating, sharing, or just keeping Mum in your thoughts.
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<div>See you at Land’s End.
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<div>Benji
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<div>P.S. If you want to use the 'words of support' feature, look for the 'add a comment' link in the confirmation email you get from GoFundMe. Or if that's too complicated, you can use this <a href="https://forms.gle/DeUmTC87mQhwmJfv5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Form</a>. All support is appreciated.
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Running the length of the UK to help my Mum fight MS

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