My fun charity fundraiser aims to bring disabled and non-disabled people together - and this is how you can get involved


What do you do if you want to raise lots of money for charity but you're too ill to walk one mile, nevermind run 26 of them?

Well, because I suffer with Functional Neurological Disorder (which makes it hard to leave the house) I have come up with the idea of the Home Charity Challenge - something all people can take part in, whether they have the condition or not.

The premise is simple - to accomplish something which for that individual will bring a lasting sense of achievement, even if to the outside world it doesn't seem that noteworthy. 

For someone with FND that could be as simple as walking a few steps unaided. For someone without it, it could be learning a new language from your living room, trying a new recipe or attempting to read that book you've never got round to reading.

It's not an attempt to out-do someone else or put yourself through hell, but to bring people with disabilities and those without them together. 

My home-based challenge (which I will start on my birthday this Sunday) will be to try and get through 100 pages of the Lord of the Rings, a book I've been desperate to re-read but have never got round to doing as I find reading books now so difficult. Regardless, I'm aiming to complete the challenge inside a week.

The reason I am doing this is to support research into FND, a debilitating neurological condition which receives very little funding and which many healthcare professionals have never even heard of, despite the fact it affects many thousands of people in the UK alone.

FND has taken away all the strength in my arms, made it really hard to walk, affected my ability to read, write, watch and think, and wrecked my bowels.

It's ruining my life, and I know from reading other people's stories that it's doing the same to them. 

The FND Research Group at the University of Edinburgh is doing great work to carry out research into the condition for which there is no cure for, while treatment options remain very limited.

So, please donate if you can, share this post if you don't mind, and if you're really feeling adventurous, why not try your own challenge?

I can't wait to get stuck into my Spanish audiobooks and I bet there's something you've always wanted to get round to doing but have kept putting off. 

Well, now's the time to try, and not only will you feel so happy once you've done it, you will be helping the next generation to not go through the same hell many people with FND are going through right now.

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