Amy Hornsey

I am taking part in the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon on 11/03/12 to raise money for The Jennifer Trust. I decided to raise money for the charity after finding out that a family member had been diagnosed with SMA. Maisy is a 2 years old beautiful, cheeky and adorable little girl and unfortunately she will never get the chance to walk and do a lot of the things that the rest of us take for granted everyday. I want to raise enough money as possible to help give Maisy, other children and adults all the support they need! This is a massive challenge for me, I have never been very good at running and need all the help i can get to make it to the finish line :-) Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is an inherited neuromuscular condition that very specifically affects nerve cells in the spinal cord called lower motor neurons. The motor neurons mainly affected in SMA are those which enable walking, crawling, arm and hand movement, head and neck movement, and swallowing. The muscles used in breathing can also be affected leading to breathing complications. SMA is a relatively rare disease that affects approximately 1 in 6,500 babies born. That means about 100 new cases are diagnosed each year in the UK.