On 19 January 2014 I lost my best friend following a long battle with depression and anxiety. He had battled for many years with his illness but you would never have known if you met him as on the outside he was one of the happiest people you could ever meet. Depression and anxiety are such hidden illnesses that from the outside you would never know if someone was suffering from them. There is also a problem with the stigma of mental illness as people don't feel comfortable talking about it and feel like it's a sign of weakness. My hope is to raise awareness and some money along the way as a fitting memory to one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for.
In order to raise awareness of mental illness and to raise some money for good causes, I've decided to complete a year of challenges in Dan's memory. The challenges are:
Health and weight loss challenge
55 mile cycle ride
Endurer Dash mud run
X Runner Wild Thing mud run
Yorkshire Tough Mudder
X Runner Water Wipeout OCR
Total Warrior OCR
Trekking the Yorkshire 3 peaks
Wiggle Yorkshire Tour Sportive cycle ride
2 Survival of the Fittest events
Plus others to be arranged including cycling a Tour de France stage, skydiving, cycling a Tour de Yorkshire stage and more...
The funds raised will go to support the work of the Blurt Foundation (www.blurtitout.org) and Mind (www.mind.org.uk) and will be split 50/50 between them. The Blurt Foundation are an online mentoring and support scheme that help those suffering from depression and Mind are a mental health charity.
Why not have a look at our social media sites to lend your support:
Website http://doitfordan.org.uk
Facebook page www.facebook.com/doitfordan.org.uk
Twitter feed www.twitter.com/doitfordanorguk
Thank you for taking the time to read this and support the campaign.
