Crawley dad runs marathon for charity that helped him while caring for his wife

Simon Horwood is taking part in the Virgin Money London Marathon on April 28 in a bid to raise £3,000 for Carers Support West Sussex.

His wife Jan who was diagnosed with a rare condition in 2014.

Simon, who is also known as Mini or Mouse, said: “Jan was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which is a rare genetic condition.

“This condition is an invisible illness so to look at Jan you would think there wasn’t much wrong with her but there actually is.

“When you live with someone with an invisible illness you can clearly see how badly affected they actually are.

“There are so many associated conditions and symptoms connected to EDS which affect Jan and others.”

He added: “The help and support that Carers Support West Sussex provides to carers is amazing.

“I am grateful for the help they have given me over the past few years since I became Jan’s main carer and I would like to give something back to them.”

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Rachael Swann, funding and development lead for Carers Support West Sussex, said: “It’s amazing that Simon is taking on this challenge to support the charity.

“We know he’s been training hard and we’re giving him as much help as we can ahead of this huge challenge.

“Carers Support West Sussex has more than 90 staff and 70 volunteers but we’d like to be able to do so much more and the money that Simon is raising will go a long way towards us being able to do that. We’re asking anyone who can to help him get to his £3000 fundraising target.”

Carers Support West Sussex supports some of the 89,000 unpaid family and friend carers in West Sussex with services including a six-day-a-week response line (0300 028 8888), support groups, a carer equipment service, hospital teams and wellbeing workshops.

Visit Simon’s fundraising page here: