Earlier this year, the unthinkable happened to a dear family friend. At just 19, and at a New Years Eve party, she died of a brain haemorrhage. Sadly what caused her death was, at present, not preventable, not particularly diagnosable or hugely symptomatic, and furthermore, not treatable. It was just simply shocking.
When I researched further, I found that approximately 8,500 people in the UK each year are affected by a sudden and severe condition where patients bleed on the brain surface. Subarachnoid haemorrhage mainly affects younger people in the prime of life and results in disability or death.
There are charities out there that help the survivors of brain haemorrhages, and those that support the bereaved families, but there seems to be only Brain Research UK that funds research to to discover the causes, develop new treatments, and improve the lives of those affected by this and other neurological conditions.
So on 30th September, I am putting on my running shoes and hoping to complete the 13.2 miles of the Cheltenham Half Marathon to raise money for this cause. Hopefully one day, there will be a sufficient research breakthrough to detect the blood thickening and abnormal clotting which goes on to take lives.
In the meantime, if you would like to support Brain Research UK, then please visit my Just Giving page: