Running for Eczema

Running seems to be the fundraising option of choice for a lot of our dedicated fundraising supporters. 2012 has seen NES supporters run distances between 5-26 miles around the UK and raise invaluable funds for the society.  You can can get an idea of what different sorts of challenges people set themselves and what sort of fundraising targets they achieve by visiting the National Eczema Society's Just Giving page http://www.justgiving.com/nationaleczemasociety/.  

On top of our usual appearances in the London Marathon ,2013 will also see the National Eczema Society participating in the Bupa Great South Run, October 26/27 and also the York 10km, 4 August. We still have places available in both these races, so if you are interested in running for the National Eczema Society for either one of these runs possibly as a build-up to the 2014 London Marathon please email fundraising@eczema.org for more information.

Leading the charge of our running campaign is undoubtedly Shane Nicholl who has set himself a 1000km challenge for 2013. Shane was due to go over the half way mark last weekend but unfortunate personal circumstances meant that Shane didn't complete all the planned races and stopped just short of 4km of the 500km milestone.  

The weekend's events have provided a strong reminder of why Shane is undertaking such a massive challenge, when Jenny, his girlfriend, was admitted to Hospital with her 7th bout of eczema herpeticum. Shane has been inspired to take on this challenge by his girlfriend, Jenny and her battle with chronic, severe eczema.  Jenny has a great blog where you can read more about her battle with eczema.

In Shane's own blog this weekend, he wrote the following:

"This whole upsetting, eventful weekend reminded me of the evening when I pledged to myself to run this 1000km this year and to do whatever I can to try and bring some comfort to Jenny's life. It was the 3rd or 4th time that she had contracted eczema herpeticum, I think around October time, but my memory is hazy. We were both sat on the floor in the spare room, breaking down but trying to hold each other together as we wondered when this whole situation would get any better. Little did we know it would get much worse.

Eczema hepeticum if left untreated can lead to complete organ failure and then death. It is a condition Jenny and myself are all too familiar with now however, with it being the 7th time Jenny has had it. The severity of the outbreak this time was disturbing, it hasn't even reached the scabbing stage yet, when most of the time we've identified it, so what has caused this outbreak to be 10 times worse than the others is a mystery for the time being.

Not that I ever need reminding of why I'm running this year, but this weekend has just pushed me to run even harder in every race and do whatever I can to try and end the suffering for Jenny and others like her."

Everyone at the National Eczema Society wishes Jenny a speedy recovery and hopes she is discharged from Hospital soon ..... we would also like to thank Shane and Jenny, not just for the incredible running commitment and fundraising efforts and the ability to empathise with others living with eczema, but for being brave and open and sharing their story so that others realise they really are not alone.