About ITP
Childhood ITP
Teenage ITP
Adult ITP
Medical Advisors
Research into ITP

Events
Convention 2008
Seminar 2008

Send for:-
Publications
Information Pack
Hospital Information
Items for Sale
American Perspective

Search this site

Join us

London Marathon 2008

Appeal for support:- Click here to donate.

My name is Byron Calmonson. I am 36 married to Sandra and have a son Jude who is 5 and a daughter Emily who is 3. I have run the London Marathon twice (2005 and 2006) and have raised just under £5,000 for a small children's charity. I swore never to do it again after the last one as I found it particularly difficult and I felt I had achieved all that I set out to.

However......... In December 2006 our world was turned upside down when our son Jude, who was then 4, fell off a chair in the dinning room and landed on his hip bone. Within 2 hours of the fall Jude was severely bruised around his hip, groin and legs and to add to the panic he had a rash covering his body of tiny red pin prick spots. We rushed him to A&E and after numerous blood tests, we were told our son had ITP...... What on earth was that we asked? Over the next 24 hours whilst Jude remained in hospital, we discovered some of the basic facts about the condition. Our simple understanding was that it is a blood condition which means that the blood has very low levels of "platelets" which are the ingredient in the blood that help the blood to clot. Whenever you cut yourself of knock yourself (bruising) it is the Platelets that clot the blood and stop the bleeding or the bruising. The normal count of platelets is between 150 to 450 and anything below is considered dangerous. Jude's count was 2. This was critically low and and meant that any knocks or falls could cause him to bleed to death. Also there was a risk that he could spontaneously start bleeding and if this was to be in his head, could kill him. We were devastated and unbelievably scared. For a period of three weeks, with the help of our family and loved ones we wrapped Jude up in cotton wool (not literally), but through this time we did more puzzles, read more books, went for more walks (Jude on daddies shoulders)... in order to stop him having any accidents. Jude is like most little boys and cant sit still for very long and the frustration of not being able to run around, play football, rugby, wrestling etc... Was extremely tough. BUT, three weeks later and we had turned the corner, Jude's count had gone up to 404 and suddenly his and our lives were back on track and he was out of danger. The relief was incredible and our prayers had been answered.

The reason I tell this story, is that we were incredibly fortunate to come through this unscathed, but there are people all around of every age that have to deal with this condition on a permanent basis and have to adapt their lives to accommodate the condition. Like Sandra and myself, most people wouldn't know anything about ITP until it effects them and the ITP support group are an essential and priceless support function in being able to cope and deal with the condition. We held on tight to the support and advice that the ITP Support Association gave us and will never forget the firm, assuring voices at the end of the phone line at all hours of the day and night.

I had only one thing on my mind running the London Marathon in 2008 and that is to run it and raise as much money as humanly possible for this wonderful and essential Support group. We couldn’t have functioned without them.

Please give as generously as you can, so that this charity can sustain itself and be there for anyone and everyone that may need their help and support.

I am delighted to report that I got through it in a personal best time of 3 hours 41 mins! Photos here.... (opens in a new window) After putting my heart and soul into it, please put some of your hard earned pennies into the charity. Click here to donate. Many thanks, Byron