Cross fingers for runner Jack Hewitt who hopes to complete the final stage of his Eight for A Mate series of marathons in Australia today – while reaching his £20,000 fundraising target for the ME Association and ME/CFS Australia. Could you help him get there?
“This is it, the final push. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the fundraiser so far. Over $30,000 dollars / £15,000 has been donated already which is absolutely amazing. It honestly means so much,” he's telling supporters
Jack, a TV content creator Brit who has been living in Oz since the beginning of last year, took on this year-long challenge after being utterly shocked by the condition in which he found Freddie, his best friend from university, when he returned to Britain to pay him a visit in June last year. Freddie has very severe ME and receives round-the-clock nursing at his home in Buckinghamshire.
This year Jack has run marathons the length and breadth of Australia to support people with ME/CFS – including the Australian Outback Marathon at Uluru in their mid-winter in July, dubbed by Runner's World magazine as one of the 50 top marathons in the world. Because it is so out of the way, only 157 people took part in the Uluru event this year.
An Australian brewery has donated over $800-worth of beer to Jack's running campaign this year, which he is giving away as a prize to his supporters Down Under. He can only post this prize out to people living in Australia.
He survived an injury to his left foot early on which put him out of action for weeks and then, as he caught up with lost time, crowding three marathons into the space of four weeks.
We hope to blog about Jack's amazing year and his plans for the future after he's completed the Eight for A Mate.
You can read Jack's personal tribute to Freddie here:
If you would like to donate to Jack’s Eight for a Mate challenge for the ME Association and help him reach his target, please visit:
Jack's ‘Eight for a mate' Marathon!
Fundraising for ME Association
To support ME/CFS Australia, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/mecfsmarathonsaus
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Volunteer, The ME Association
fundraising@meassociation.org.uk
