Joan Raxter from Hanbury is heading to Newcastle this weekend (September 8) to take part in the Great North Run to raise funds for Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), a charity very close to her heart.
The Great North Run will be the first half marathon for Joan, a regular runner who wanted to take on a challenge in support of her seven year old granddaughter, Imogen.
“Imogen was born with the rare liver disease, biliary atresia and received a life-saving liver transplant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital when she was just five months old,” explains Joan.
“From the start, Children’s Liver Disease Foundation were there for the whole family with information about her condition and advice to help us and Imogen move forward. I know her parents have found the information packs for schools and medical practitioners particularly helpful and we all love to see and hear the experiences of other families on how they cope with life post-transplant.
“Imogen has truly made the most of the precious gift of life which she was given. In fact, she has just returned from the British Transplant Games where she won four medals! As I’ve been running for about five years now, the Great North Run seems the perfect challenge to take on for a charity which means so much to our family.
“Training has gone well and I’m hoping to complete the run in around two and a half hours. Imogen is really pleased I am doing this, she has been doing whatever she can to help with my fundraising and will be there on the day to cheer me on!”
Alison Taylor, Chief Executive of Children’s Liver Disease Foundation commented: “CLDF is the only UK charity dedicated to fighting all childhood liver diseases, by providing information and emotional support, funds for research and a voice for all those affected. In order to do this however, we rely on voluntary donations, so we are delighted to hear that Joan is doing this for us. We hope her first half marathon is a fantastic experience and wish her all the best for the day.”
You can support Joan’s Great North Run by going to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/joan.raxter.great.north.run.cldf
For more information on CLDF visit childliverdisease.org.
