On 30th September this year, my gorgeous niece Connie was born. Several days later my brother and sister-in-law were called back to the hospital. Blood tests had revealed that Connie has a rare condition called Congenital Hypothyroidism. In layman's terms this means she does not have a thyroid, the organ responsible for providing the body with many hormones, including those for growth. Without treatment, babies do not develop properly, both physically and mentally.

Although Connie has started taking treatment, and is likely to be perfectly fine as long as she takes medication every day of her life, the initial shock of hearing the news has been quite traumatic for her parents and loved ones. As it is a rare condition, there is little information out there and few other families who they can turn to in order to share their experience. The British Thyroid Foundation is working hard to get that information out there and to support families like Connie's. 

For this reason, I am running the Shanghai half marathon on the 1st December in aid of "The British Thyroid Foundation". The British Thyroid Foundation is a charity dedicated to supporting people with thyroid disorders and helping their families and people around them to understand their conditions. 

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