New Challenge: MS Readathon

When I was a kid I used to take part in the MS Readathon every year. For 30 days I'd read as many books as I could get through as my friends and family sponsored my efforts. I loved taking part in this challenge because it basically gave me an excuse to keep my nose in a book for 30 days straight but it had a greater purpose than simply providing me with some pleasure.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a serious and debilitating disease which affects the communication between the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Three times more women are affected than men and the average age for diagnosis is just 30 years old. There is no known cure and for some MS means life in a wheelchair with extremely limited control over their body. My uncle is one such sufferer.

For much of my life my uncle has been aware of his MS but before that he was an active and sporty kid and teen who spent more time on a variety of sports fields than anywhere else. He was diagnosed earlier than most but it wasn't until about 10 years ago that it really began to impact on his life. His health declined and he's now restricted to a wheelchair and living with my incredible grandparents, but he's never let it get him down. His amazing positivity and mad sense of humour is a testament to his character and he's one of the strongest and most interesting and amazing people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

So it was for him that I used to scramble through those books each year as a kid and it's for him that I'm doing it again now. An adults edition of the Readathon called 'The Novel Challenge' will be running for 30 days in August and I've signed up to take part. I'm not really comfortable using my blog as a platform for raising money, what I really want to do on here is to raise awareness and hopefully motivate any Aussie bloggers into taking part and any international bloggers into hunting down whether such a challenge exists in their area.

The other thing is an appeal for book titles to read during this challenge! The titles I'd been planning to read for the 'Book to Movie' and 'Books I Should Have Read' challenges will also go towards this challenge but I'm eager for some new titles to add to my Readathon TBR list and I want you guys to help me out there!

I'll be updating posts daily through August but you can also go to my fundraiser page to check out my progress. Wish me luck guys!