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What made a psychedelic hippy, a mad cow and a 'Dorothy' run around the Dane Court Grammar School campus last Thursday? To be fair, they were in similar company as they were followed by an inflatable football, several Tallinn Tigers and a good selection of staff and students. Their target was to raise money for a Crohn's Vaccine which could change the lives of many people worldwide.

Early signs suggest that over £500 has been raised by staff with local businesses such as Cleveland House, Broadstairs and OFP Timber Homes sponsoring the event. Jack Foad (11T) came in first with a time of 25 minutes, closely followed by David Buttery, Maths teacher. Many competitors donned fancy dress and in keeping with the theme 'Any Which Way You Can', the Holmes family turned it into a pram race as they tackled the terrain with gusto. Several ex-students and staff followed the event online as updates and videos kept them in touch on Facebook (at Dane Court Crohn's Fun Run) so they were able to pledge their support even if they could not be there in person.

The Fun Run came about after several staff discovered that Crohn's disease had impacted their families and when they heard that there was a vaccine in sight, they decided to try to raise money. Carol Weale, a teacher at Dane Court, organised the event with the help of her colleagues. Crohn's is a degenerative, painful and life-long inflammatory condition which affects the digestive tract. There has been a massive increase in newly diagnosed cases worldwide and most of those are young people. Standard treatments, such as steroids and other toxic drugs, can have terrible side effects and don't always work. Sufferers can end up having painful operations to cut out the diseased sections of their guts. Doctors treat the symptoms not the cause so the disease always comes back. Professor John Hermon-Taylor at King's College, London has developed an 'Anti-MAP Vaccine' and is working on a 'Smart Test' to detect MAP, found in most Crohn's patients, which can be spread by milk and contaminated water.

It was a few small, sometimes painful steps for us, but a potentially giant leap for Crohn's sufferers if the fundraising succeeds! Well done to all those taking part!