On Sunday 2 October 2022, a group of staff from the Personal Injury Department at Lanyon Bowdler took part in the Virtual London Marathon with the route taking us twice around Lake Vyrnwy. We were raising funds for the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) Orthopaedic Institute which supports research and education for patient benefit.

As well as providing life changing treatment to patients, the RJAH Hospital is a hub of scientific investigation contributing to the developing field of Orthopaedic research. A current focus of their research is the Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) disease, which is a rare, hereditary condition that usually appears in the first 10 years of life which causes sensory and motor nerves to die leading to muscle wastage causing significant impairments including inability to talk, joint pain and deformities. Despite this disease having an enormous impact at such a young age, there is limited research making it difficult to develop treatments, and the funds the team raise should allow these investigations to continue in the future.

Here at Lanyon Bowdler, we take a very holistic approach in the Personal Injury Department by making sure our clients have highly qualified case managers, assessments and opinions from experts in the medical and other fields. We specialise in assisting with claims where individuals have suffered from spinal cord injuries, meaning that we have close regular contact with the medical professionals at the RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital.

There is no doubt that suffering a spinal injury has an enormous detrimental impact on the individuals quality of life due to facing many tough challenges on a daily basis. However well the team members had prepared for participating in the Virtual London Marathon, they inevitably faced many obstacles throughout the challenge, which enabled them to further empathise and understand the experiences and goal focused challenges of their clients.

We were all looking forward to the marathon, with a certain amount of trepidation, we had a number of training plans, lots of discussion, support and dare I say some competition within the team. It was lovely to be out running for charity again, and was a wonderful life affirming experience. I am so grateful to Debbie Alexander and the team for organising this wonderful event. My last running event was the London Landmarks Half Marathon, again raising money for the RJAH, but this time for the Horatio's Garden project. I am now googling what will be my next one!

There is still time to donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/orthopaedicinstitute

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