On the 30th of September six of us (Maggie, Hugo, Holly, Simon, Miranda & Scott) are donning our badly fitting lycra, making the journey from Brighton to Paris. Whilst we are looking forward to stretching the legs and taking on the 150 mile journey over a few days, there is an altogether more serious reason for the ride too.

We are raising money and awareness for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), an auto-immune disease that Simon’s daughter, Charlotte, has suffered and continues to suffer from since being diagnosed at the tender age of two.

In many respects Charlotte is one of the lucky ones having being diagnosed with JIA after we sought a private appraisal following the failure of the NHS to properly recognise what she was suffering from. Charlotte’s illness is now being managed by Great Ormond Street Hospital and she leads a totally normal existence – save for the weekly injections she has unfortunately become accustomed to.

Many other children won’t be so fortunate and will continue to suffer from the illness without adequate diagnose and treatment. Early recognition of JIA in a child can make a big difference, alleviating pain and also eliminating the risk of long term damage to joints.

So we are raising cash to help drive awareness of this illness to ensure that the treatment and recognition that Charlotte finally got, is afforded to others. It is also an area that demands more research too, because for some children the disease simply vanishes without a trace. Others are not so lucky.

Here is a link explaining more about JIA:

http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/footer/our-privacy-and-cookies-policy.aspx

I know that cycle rides etc a two-a-penny these days but we would be grateful for any spare cash you could potentially send our way to help fund support and research into JIA.