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Sixth former Alice recently took part in Brighton marathon with the aim of raising awareness and much needed funds for her chosen charity, Action Duchenne.

Action Duchnne. initially called Parent Project UK, was set up in 2001 by Nick Catlin and Dr Janet Hoskin, after their son Saul was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The charity was the first organisation in the UK dedicated exclusively to Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy and, with the help and support of friends and supporters and other Duchenne families, developed into a national organisation.
Alice explained ‘When I first started training and fundraising for the marathon I was rather anxious but keen to get started. I began my fundraising by starting up a Just Giving page and spreading the word via social media. However I soon realised that I was going to need to do some kind of event to make up the £500 I planned to raise before running the marathon so I decided to organise a quiz night at my school and shared the sponsorship money with the David Shepard Wildlife Foundation as it is a charity that Mr White is a part of and he helped a lot with the running of the event. I also did a number of assemblies at school to raise awareness about the illness and about what I was doing to help raise money for the charity.

I found the marathon a real challenge and at the start line I was very nervous but with such a positive atmosphere I was able to cross the finish line with a grin on my face and have a strong sense of pride for myself and everyone else that had completed the run. I managed to complete the marathon in a respectable 4 hours 37 minutes and 4 seconds and have raised more the £1300 for the charity. I hope to run another marathon in a few years but would like to concentrate on my studies for the time being.’

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a common genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood, affecting approximately 1 in every 3,500 male births (around 2500 people have DMD in the UK). To find out more about the charity, Action Duchenne, or to donate to the help support sufferers of the condition please visit: http://www.actionduchenne.org/