A dad whose boy has a rare form of Parkinson's disease will be among those to line at Bath's annual half marathon next month.
Every year the Bath Half throws up heart-rending stories, and this year's edition of the race is no different.
Sven Grove's 10-year-old son is among just eight people in the country to suffer from a rare nervous system condition and he plans to run the 13.1-mile course to raise funds for a small charity dedicated to fighting it.
Last week we heard that Bath's brave meningitis survivor Harmonie-Rose Allen will be one of the youngest to tackle the race in its 25-year history with the backing of a seven person-strong support cast.
The Bath Half is the South West's biggest charity fundraising event and the 2017 edition saw a record £2.25 million raised for good causes.
Even last year, when the race was cancelled after heavy snowfall, charities received £1.5 million as people honoured their donations.
The Bath Half 2019 takes place on Sunday, March 17.
These are a few of the amazing stories of those taking part, in their own words.
'The challenge is nothing to what our beautiful children face every day'
My name is Sven Grove I’m 40 years old and I’m running in the Bath Half Marathon in aid of AADCd to raise vital funds for research to cure a terrible life-threatening brain disease.
I’ve always enjoyed playing rugby until recent years and short distance running when the time permits. I’ve done a couple of longer distance runs but that was a quite few years ago now.
It’s surprising how time catches up with you when doing things like this, especially when so much time and energy is taken up looking after someone very close to your heart.
My son Ted, 10, is my true inspiration, he suffers from this brain condition called AADCd (Aromatic Amino Acid Decarboxylase deficiency), an ultra rare Parkinsonism disease and he’s one of just eight in the UK and about 130 worldwide.
He and most children like him can’t walk, talk or do anything for themselves, requiring 24/7 care. Eating and the cocktail of medicines are mainly administered through feeding pegs and they struggle to gain or keep weight on.
The brain can’t produce critical chemicals - dopamine and serotonin - which are essential to control almost all bodily functions. This leaves our children totally locked-in.
The worst problem to manage are the crises, when the eyes roll upwards, body twists in pain for up to eight hours, with no explanation or warning and it can be as regular as every three days.
Being just a small charity The AADC Research Trust have been an incredible strength to the families and are constantly trying to find ways to make our children’s lives easier.
Unfortunately the trust's high street shop had to close leaving just an online charity shop and sponsors. Due to this unforeseen closure funding has dramatically decreased, leaving the possible future treatments in jeopardy.
Gene therapy is making progress in the USA, Taiwan, Japan and hopefully Europe very soon. It's the very hope we are praying for, need and eagerly await ... but its future is still uncertain. And this is why our children need us to fundraise as much as possible.
Training has been slow - especially in the snow and a facial injury has left me a week without getting the valuable miles in. But be in no doubt the challenge I face is nothing to what our beautiful children face every day.
If I can raise the £200 I will be prepared to run with his weight - 20kg.
My JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/Sven-Grove3
'Many times I fell over and thought I would have to stop'
56-year-old Jane Edwards is hoping to raise £750 for Brain Tumour Support.
Four years ago I survived 12 hours of life-threatening surgery to remove a brain tumour. My surgeon is amazed I'm alive, let alone functioning as I do.
I've even gone back to work against all expectations. Life presents many challenges for me but I feel very fortunate to be around for longer and embrace every opportunity that comes my way.
It’s been a long difficult journey and I have never run this far ever, but I want to do this to show my son that I am well and recovering.
I am also raising money for Brain Tumour Support charity, without their love and support, I would not be thriving like I am today.
This is my first half marathon and my first challenge. Apart from a family fun run eight years ago, I have never run a race before and I am certainly not a sporty person.
Last March I started doing the BBC 'couch to 5k' app on my phone.
It took me a long time to complete and I had to learn to balance terrible headaches and fatigue.
I had many times when I fell over and thought I would have to stop as it was making me unwell.
But gradually over the months, I kept my training going and I can now run several miles, I am very positive that I will finish the Bath Half.
You can donate here
Local charity chairwoman
Caroline 'Carly' White, 45, will have her son in mind when she runs the two-lap course.
My son Seb is 11 and has Down's syndrome - he is able to access all the things he loves to do - sport, drama, music, cinema, friendships, days out etc through his family and school, and leads a really busy and rewarding life.
Sadly, when adults with learning difficulties leave their family home and education it can be increasingly difficult for them to continue doing the things they love and 50 per cent of adults with learning difficulties say they are lonely.
Bath Mencap's aim is to support our members and provide services that they can enjoy doing, without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed, and meet up with friends.
Our current events include quiz nights, bowling, cinema, a Sunday lunch club and the hugely popular UPROAR! night at Komedia, Bath's first club night for adults with learning disabilities - which has just been nominated for a Bath Life Award and sells out every time.
The charity relies entirely on grants and donations and without funds coming in our services cannot be sustained. I also became the chair of the charity last year so iIhave extra reason to pitch in.
I would love to raise £400-500 if possible.
I am lucky that I have a friend running with me which has been great for company and morale boosting, but hopefully means we can get more sponsors.
It is so humbling when people support what you are doing - either by doing it with you, or by sponsoring you, especially when the cause is so personal to me.
You can give to Team Anne and Carly's cause here
Running every year for my late sister
Charlotte Jones, 25, is running in aid of Bradford-on-Avon charity hospice Dorothy House.
I run for my sister. She was 32 when she was diagnosed with a metastatic mucosal melanoma in early 2016. She wasn’t going to be able to run the Bath half because of her treatment, so I decided to run it for her.
I’m so lucky to have a healthy body and running makes me so much more aware of that fact.
Sadly, she had died by the time March 2017 came around, but I promised myself I would run it every year to support the amazing hospice Dorothy House as a small way to thank the people there for the amazing care they gave Claire.
They looked after my sister when we couldn’t - and they let us bring her puppy to see her, which was such a massive thing to us all.
I’ve ran the Bath Half in 2017 and training for that was the first time I’d ever run - I basically hated every minute for the first few months and then suddenly something clicked!
I was due to run it last year as well but it was cancelled due to the weather; sort of a blessing in disguise as my dad died unexpectedly about three weeks before so all of my training and healthy eating had very much stopped.
Starting to train for this year’s has been just as much of a challenge as it was like starting from scratch again.
My training is going terribly - I work a lot of hours, I don’t like to run in the dark but currently if I’m not at work it’s dark.
I recently invested in a static bike for home so that I could still train in some way but I went for a run yesterday and it was much harder than I was hoping.
I’ve maybe been for four or five real runs this year so I’m getting really anxious for the half in just over a month!
I’m running with my sister’s wife Emma, and my brother Daniel, so I would say we have a joint target since we don’t expect people to sponsor all three of us - but I don’t really have a target. Whatever people can give, I’m thankful for.
Charlotte's fundraising page can be found here
Have you got an amazing tale of why you're running the Bath Half? Email sam.petherick@reachplc.com
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