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Richards runs Virgin London Marathon for FMA UK

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Category: Fundraising

Published on Wednesday, 10 September 2014 11:43

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Earlier this year,  Richard Burnham took part in this year’s Virgin London Marathon. He wanted to make a difference with his fundraising and chose to raise money for a cause close to home, Fibromyalgia, a condition which affects his older sister. 

Being brought up as part of a very close family he has watched his once very sporty sister, who was once a county gymnast for Suffolk and Essex and long distance runner herself, struggle through her teenage years with the physical and mental effects of fibromyalgia and has seen the effect it has had on her everyday life and is beginning to see how it may affect her future. Inspired by her positive attitude and her determination to not let her body and mind succumb to the Fibromyalgia she currently works full time, volunteers at her local police station and has recently obtained a distance learning diploma in Criminology. Inspired by her positive attitude and her ‘can do’ approach he wanted to raise money for the awareness of Fibromyalgia so that others may be able to find some positives in this gruelling condition as she has which may in turn help them to achieve something which they thought may never be possible.

This was Richard’s first marathon and he completed it with a very respectable time, although he still maintains he would have been even quicker had he have not had to run 3 miles to the start with 30 seconds to spare! He battled through the heat of the day and the unimaginable pain and to achieve this personal achievement. Richard finished the race after 5 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds and afterwards vowed that he would never run again!

The fundraising was a team effort between his girlfriend, a marathon runner herself, his sister and of course the rest of his family. His family designed him his very own running vest sporting the FMA UK logos and his girlfriend and his sister customised their FMA UK t-shirts. His efforts have made his family extremely proud and he smashed his £250.00 fundraising target having raised a huge £836.00 plus gift aid and perhaps more importantly his efforts have made huge strides in awareness with many people telling Richard, his sister and is family that they have ‘googled’ the condition as they had never heard of it before and now understand a little better the daily battle which someone with Fibromyalgia lives with and the daily battles they face.