As I mentioned in my first blog entry, I'm doing an Ironman triathlon and one of my aims is to raise money for a cause very close to my heart. Uveitis research. I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying uveitis, both symptoms and treatments, must be for children and the many people more squeamish than me. Usually I'm accepting of my disease and the treatments necessary, but it's not always easy.
To the point -- I expect that people reading this blog are mostly from one of two places. The UK (where I'm from) or the USA (my new home, at least for now). If you're from somewhere else, please consider the charities I'm supporting and if you know of one in your home country, I encourage you to support them too.
Yes, support Uveitis research!
In the UK please go to my Virgin Money Giving page (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/drSteve). The charity I'm supporting is Olivia's Vision, please support them too.
In the USA (if you want your donation to be tax-deductible) please give to http://www.uveitis.org/. I don't have a FirstGiving page because 1) they take too much of your donation, and 2) the OIUF don't seem to have new fundraising enabled through FirstGiving. If you donate, please leave a comment here, on my Twitter or send me email. I'd love to keep track of how much is being raised.
If you're in neither country, please donate to Olivia's Vision through my fundraising page.
Thank you so much for reading this, and even more if you are considering donating to the cause. If you want to wait and see whether I make it around the course, that's fine, leave a comment and encourage me to train hard!
You could encourage me by setting an incentive scheme... for example: completion=$25 and an extra $10 for every hour under the 17hr cutoff. You could offer a bonus donation of $25 for getting under my 12hr target. So, if I finished in 13:40 that'd be $55; if I finished in 11:59 it'd be $100 to support uveitis research.
That's just an example, but any donations or pledges are welcome (large or small).
