Lillie-Beth was a carefree, happy-go-lucky little girl until she contracted meningococcal septicaemia in 2008; it’s a date I will always remember as I carried her lifeless little body into hospital
Fortunately Lillie-Beth is a fighter and she survived, although at the time the doctors were less than hopeful, saying that if we had been just 30 minutes later in getting medical help, the outcome could have been very different!
She’s 11 now and thankfully a happy and fun loving young lady with a vivacious appetite for life and it’s her energy and passion that has motivated me to create this madcap event, called May Mayhem for Meningitis.
May Mayhem is a month-long fundraising event designed to be anything you want and where everyone can join in – the more the merrier. It involves doing anything that takes your fancy, from walking to work every day, giving up chocolate or smoking through to personal challenges such as 31 wax strips (ouch)!, or for the more adventurous what about a 31 man skydive? It could even be 31 different challenges, one for every day of the month! The challenge you set is yours as long as it fits the overall theme. Fundraising is at the heart of May Mayhem, so look to raise £31, £310 or £3100 to reflect the 31 day theme.
I’ve raised funds for Meningitis Now in the past and have done all sort of things, usually involving running! They include the Great North Run, the London Marathon and last year running 52kms across parts of the Great Wall of China. But they have always been as part of an organised event. As a local business women, working in marketing and comms I felt it was time I had a go for myself.
I have two personal aims for May Mayhem for Meningitis. Firstly, to raise £3,100 for Meningitis Now by running ten miles every day throughout the month of May and secondly to encourage as many people as possible to do whatever they can around the May Mayhem or 31 day theme. It could be literally anything; we have no limits, no restrictions and no rules, except have fun and raise as much as you can for this valuable and vital cause.
Every person signing up will receive a May Mayhem pack, containing helpful materials, including fundraising advice, posters and sponsorship forms.
For me, its personal - I know the pain that meningitis brings and I know that raising awareness of the disease can be the difference between life and death. I also know the work that Meningitis Now does and they need our support now to continue to help thousands of people deal with the devastating consequences of meningitis.
I’d love you to be part of the May Mayhem for Meningitis.
