I’ve decided to take on the challenge of running the Yorkshire Marathon on the 19th of October to raise funds for the ASA Foundation.

Autoimmune Support & Awareness Foundation UK (ASA Foundation) is a registered UK charity. It was established by Asal Shirazi BEM in late 2022, after many years of her personal advocacy and as a direct response to the lack of information available for sufferers combined with the limited training provided to the primary care sector.

Recently my mum lost her best friend, Nicky Barrett, to a very rare aggressive autoimmune disease which has broken the heart of not only my mum but Nicky’s family, friends and everyone that had the privilege of knowing her.

During Nicky's time fighting this disease it was a real eye opener to just how little health care professionals know about the rare forms of autoimmune disease. There are over 100 different forms of autoimmune disease and it is clear to me that there needs to be more funding to provide more education to health care professionals to hopefully in the future save lives, so that people like Nicky can have a chance.

I would be very grateful if anyone could be so generous to take the time to donate to this cause.

Thank you