By Lesley Walsh
A BANGOR man is running next month’s Ards half marathon to raise money and awareness for an incurable disease affecting his young son.
Elliott Hamilton will be pounding the pavement to highlight a condition called Nephrotic Syndrome that his son Frankie was diagnosed with last June.
Elliott, who now lives in Belfast, said that since the diagnosis, his little boy Frankie has been living his young life punctuated by constant hospital trips, relapses, biopsies and appointment after appointment with doctors.
Stating the experience has been ‘eye opening’, Elliott said he realised few people are aware of the condition.
“It was a shock for all of us when he was diagnosed with something that none of us in our family had ever been made aware of, nevermind the fact there is no cure currently,” said Frankie’s doting dad.
Nephrotic Syndrome (NS) affects around 10,000 people in the UK, the majority being children and on top of there being no known cause or cure, current treatments are non-specific and highly toxic, with many potentially life-threatening complications.
In light of this, Elliott is running the marathon to support NeST – the Nephrotic Syndrome Trust – which funds Bristol Children’s Hospital where scientists are actively researching NS to find a cure.
The Ards Half Marathon takes place on June 28 and takes runners through the towns and countryside of Ards in County Down.
Starting and finishing in Newtownards, the route is undulating-to-hilly, on roads and footpaths. It has a reputation for being one of the toughest half marathons in the province.
As well as the half marathon, the event includes an approximately nine mile walk through Newtownards and the neighbouring countryside past Scrabo Tower.
It is organised by the Scrabo Striders and supported by the Ards and North Down Council.
Elliott said he was delighted by the early response of his Just Giving fundraising effort.
“It has been up for two days and I already have had to change the target amount from £500 to £1000. We smashed the £500 in under 12 hours with all the kind donations and a pledge from That Prize Guy to donate £200.
“I have been so overwhelmed by the response that I can’t even put it into words,” he said.
