Day 138: I'm not the only young person to be living with RA

This may come as a surprise to some of you but as I might have mentioned once or twice before, I am not the only young person to have ever been diagnosed with the bitch that is RA. In fact, there are around 25,000 young people under the age of 25 in the UK that are living with it. One of those people is Sean.

I met Sean a couple of years ago through Arthritis Research UK. At 12 years old Sean was a normal kid. At 12 years old Sean was playing badminton for England. But at 12 years old Sean was also diagnosed with RA. Not surprisingly this ended his badminton career, kept him out of school for a while, and pretty much affected his life in every way possible... something which I can relate to only too well.

But has he let it ruin his life? Has he fuck. In fact from 2^nd October – 14^th October this year he cycled 876 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats. This is a pretty bloody impressive achievement for any able-bodied person, let alone someone with RA. Here’s a quick summary:

1. He saw 53 dead animals on his journey.
2. Every bloke he spoke to in Cornwall was a Manchester United fan.
3. Scotland is the most beautiful place he has ever seen.
4. Warrington is the biggest shit hole he has ever seen.
5. He learnt that Scotland and Wales both hate England (there is a sign to welcome you into both countries but nothing the other side saying ‘Welcome to England’).
6. He spent a day and a half glued to the toilet.
7. ‘The Only Way is Essex’ has tarnished his county and therefore he eventually resorted to telling people he was from London.
8. He went two weeks only wearing two pairs of pants.
9. He came within inches of being run over by an articulated lorry.
10. He spat on his own face more than a dozen times.
11. He only got two punctures.
12. HE MADE IT.

This is the point where I shamelessly ask you to donate some money to Arthritis Research UK. Sean and I have been lucky enough to respond to treatment, but not everyone is as fortunate as us and more research needs to be done to find new treatments and, who knows, maybe even a cure. If you can spare a quid or two, you can sponsor him here. He cycled 80 MILES A DAY. For 12 DAYS. My bum hurts just thinking about it. Oh and by the way, he did the whole thing on his own, completely unsupported.

Love,

Cat x