On the 28 September 2011 my brother Rupert died from Vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease that he had been battling with for 4 years. Due to the rarity of the disease he had been ill for a few years before he was correctly diagnosed. During this time the disease systematically attacked every organ in his body. When he did eventually find out what he had, he got great support from Vasculitis UK, a charity set up to support sufferers of the disease and to provide funding into research.

On the 1 April 2012, I will be running the Reading Half Marathon with Rupert’s daughter Atalanta, his son Caspar and his nieces India, Daisy and Flora and his nephew Milo to raise money for Vasculitis Uk. If you'd like to sponser them directly their fundraising pages can be found by following the link to 'My Team' bellow this story (the team seems to keep growing so apologies for any I didn't mention).

Vasculitis UK provides a national network of support groups, offering support to sufferers, their families and friends both at home and abroad. They also support research into the causes of and treatments for vasculitis at the Birmingham University Hospital UK and Addenbrookes Hospital UK.

10% of all income to the charity is spent on printing and posting, 15% on information booklets and leaflets. All the rest goes to fund research. There are no offices and no salaries. All the money donated is used to very good effect. They have donated over £125,000 to fund research over the last 5 years.  All support groups are run totally by volunteers. There is 24 hour help line available to everyone.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

Please dig deep and donate now.