The Bells take on The London Marathon 2024

1 in 6 people in the UK, of all ages, have arthritis. Half of them are in pain every single day.

10 years ago, 8 months before our wedding, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. At the time I had no idea what rheumatoid arthritis was and believed the issues I was having were caused by overdoing my pre wedding fitness regime.

For the first few years I struggled to get the pain and fatigue under control as my treatment options were limited due to wanting to start a family. Most days I found it hard to carry out everyday tasks such as dressing myself and the boys; it really affected my mood and I struggled to talk about it without crying. I regularly needed painful injections directly into my joints to reduce the swelling and needed to wear wrist splints daily to reduce the pain. Unfortunately for us I couldn’t tolerate the next stage of treatment and was told they had ran out of treatment options for me. Charities such as Versus Arthritis helped me to see that I didn’t have to accept this was “as good as it could get”! We fought for a second opinion and 5 years ago I was started on a treatment which quickly changed our lives. My flare ups now last days not months and I have a lot more energy to keep up with our two boys.

Matty has been by my side through it all, taking on more than his fair share yet never complaining. He knows exactly when to step in and take over and when to leave me to get on with it! I watched proudly as Matty ran his first marathon in 2019, at that point I couldn’t dream of ever running 26.2 miles! Over the last 5 years I have been able to start running again; exercise really helps me to manage my symptoms. The furthest I have ever ran currently is 13.1 miles. The London Marathon 2024 will be Matty’s second marathon. Although we are both taking on this challenge to raise money for Versus Arthritis we will not be running it together; I think that would end in divorce!!

The work Versus Arthritis do is vital in raising awareness, providing education, supporting research, and providing hope to people living with arthritis and their families. We would really appreciate any donations you can make to help us reach our target. We also want to raise awareness for the 10 million people who are currently living with arthritis.

Thank you for your support xxx