Raising money

As many of you know, I will be travelling to Morocco on 1 April to participate in the 25th Marathon des Sables. This will involve running 155 miles through the Sahara over 7 days, carrying all my gear and with temperatures probably into the 40°Cs.

Given the magnitude of the task in hand, I’m hoping for loads of sponsorship (fyi I am funding the cost of the event myself) although, in view of the fact that I may not finish, I'd be OK if you wait until 10 April before donating!

I have decided to run on behalf of three causes, which mean a great deal to me:

1. My dad has had Parkinson’s for many years now, more recently complicated by Parkinson’s dementia. It’s an awful disease and has been tough on the family, especially my mum, who remains the main care-giver. Click to donate to the Parkinson’s Disease Society, which funds research and provides support.
2. My mate Dom Pardey, a truly awesome guy, had a stroke on Christmas Day in 2005 at the age of 28. He’s still a dude, he just can’t live independently any more, can barely get around without help and a wheelchair and is tired all the time. I'd prefer it if people gave money directly to the Dom Pardey Trust - it'll make a big difference to his life. You can do this here via PayPal (using the email address "dompardeytrust -at- gmail.com" to identify the recipient) or directly (contact me for the account details). You can read all about Dom on his blog. However, if you'd rather give to a wider stroke-related charity, click here to give to Different Strokes, a charity that focuses on young stroke survivors, helping them to regain as much independence as possible. I'll match the first £2k of donations to the latter with a similar donation to the Dom Pardey Trust.
3. I spent 5 weeks in Cape Town when I was 23, working in a paediatric ward at the Conradie Hospital. Most of the kids there had HIV. It made quite an impression on me. The Conradie is now closed, but click to give to the Egmont Trust, a charitable organisation that channels donations to small, local, grassroots HIV charities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Hopefully, I'll be able to update everyone on my progress through the event nightly via this blog. Otherwise, I believe the official MdS website will show a list of finishers after each day, so at least you'll know if I'm alive. The run itself starts on 4 April and finishes on 10 April. From the 3-9 April, you can theoretically send me messages, again via the official website, though I won't be able to respond directly. Click on "write to runners" or "écrire aux concurrents"; you’ll need my running number (dossard) of 882.