From amazing runners beating their personal bests, to unlocking free donations whilst shopping for that new favourite top from the comfort of your home, you all have been raising life-changing funds for the MPS Society this summer and we could not be more grateful. Read a few of your inspiring stories below and be introduced to the first of your eight determined 2024 TCS London Marathon Runners and learn about the motivation behind their efforts.
Wear it Blue Superheroes
We’d like to send a huge thank you to Ethan and his family for raising £1,748 during Wear it Blue 2023! As the founders of Wear it Blue, we are incredibly grateful for the amazing fundraising Ethan and his family do each year for the MPS Society. Ethan’s step-dad Kevin also launched a new project called ‘The Boy in the Blue’, a poem written to highlight how Ethan feels living with an MPS condition. It is hoped that others will be able to relate to the sentiments in the poem and not feel so alone and this exciting project is also designed to help others (especially school children) learn more about MPS. Learn more about this project here.
Kevin is also the Chairman of St. Stephen’s Golf Society and they held their annual golf day to raise funds for Wear it Blue and raised a very impressive £2,036! We’re thrilled to hear that next year’s golf day is going to be even bigger!
Pictured are Ethan and his family all wearing it blue and Ethan with the St Stephen’s skipper, Bob McDougall and this year's Wear it Blue trophy winner, Ian Horsham. Well done and thank you to everyone who supported Ethan and his family this year!
Your fundraising stories
The Great North Run
We’d like to say a huge thank you to our Great North Run team who spent months training for the big day and who then had to battle some crazy weather conditions to complete 13.1 miles, all to raise money for our charity. Well done Tim, Paul, Debbie, Mark and Elaine! Together, this year’s team raised over £4,300 (including Gift Aid) and we’re so very proud of them all!
A meaningful donation
The MPS Society is delighted to have been awarded a brand donation from KFC UKI. They chose to make this donation as one of their team has a child with MPS and they wanted to thank us for being there for their colleague and family during a difficult time. Thank you KFC UKI for supporting the great work we do and for supporting your team member and family in such an amazing way. Your donation will enable us to continue to support all of our members and their families, offering expert advice and bespoke support, and we couldn’t do what we do without wonderful organisations like yours!
Easyfundraising
Thank you so much to all of you who have been raising free online donations for us by shopping your favourite brands through Easyfundraising. You have raised an incredible £846.29!
If you haven't already, why not sign up to support us? Over 7,000 brands are taking part, including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds. Take a look here.
Meet our 2024 TCS London Marathon Runner Team
Let us introduce you to our fabulous team for the 2024 TCS London Marathon! They are already busy training for the big day and we thought, we would share a little more information about each of them with you over the next few months.
Our first runner is Josie…
“Hi everyone, I’m Josie an d my little cousin Theo was diagnosed with MPS Type 1, Hurler’s, at 9 months old. He’s now 6 and since his diagnosis, he has been through many procedures including a bone marrow transplant at Manchester Hospital when he was just 1, a shunt for hydrocephalus and he is now waiting to have spinal surgery. Even with all that he has been through and is still going through, he is a happy little boy and soldiers on every day with the biggest smile and the best sense of humour!
"He is my biggest inspiration, and he is why I am running the London Marathon for the MPS Society in April 2024.”
Thank you to everyone who has donated to the MPS Society this month, your support means the world to us!
Thanks to your efforts, an amount like this could help us to assist more than 50 families a year with tailored support, advocacy and information.
