Dear friends, family and supporters,

I have a story to tell you. It's important and it starts in 2010.

At the age of 16, I was in year 11 at school and I had my whole life ahead of me. Everything was great, but then it changed. Every night time became a night mare, every morning became a struggle to face the world. I was convinced that nothing I did was good enough, that I was worthless and I didn't deserve anything good at all. It was about this time that I was diagnosed with an illness called chronic depression and two years later I'm still fighting but I'm not the only one.

• 1 in 5 Australians suffer from a mental illness
• Mental illness is the 3rd biggest disease burden in Australia, after cancer and cardio-vascular disease
• Mental illnes is THE BIGGEST disease burden for young Australians aged 15-25 (including both disability and death) 

I can safely say that my biggest achievement of my life thus far was making it to my 17th birthday and then out doing myself AGAIN for my 18th! It was shortly after my 18th birthday that I decided I wanted to help someone, who suffered just like I did, or worse because everyone's story is different. I decided that if I could make a difference or even save just one life somehow all my effort would be worth it. That's when I found The Black Dog Peru Challenge 2012.

On 20th October, 2012, I'll be embarking on the Peru Challenge through Inspired Adventures and am raising funds for Blackdog Institute to help raise money for mental health in Australia. Each year, Blackdog aim to advance the understanding, diagnosis and management of depression and Bipolar Disorder and imporve the lives of those affected by these mood disorders. Please help me in my cause by donating through my page.

I've learnt that my life is worth living, and I AM LIVING!! Now it's time for somebody else to learn they are beautiful in every way, even if they don' believe it.

I'm looking forward to embarking on this challenge and am more than grateful for everything you do. Your sponsorship is not forgotten and without your support this would not be possible.
 

I am also lucky enough to have a friend- Madeleine Cowell, who supports me in anything I do and to prove it again she is running a half marathon for this commendable cause. This is her achievement and what she has to say:

"The countdown is on to Sunday morning, 6:20am....for no other reason than I will be putting one foot in front of the other in the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival's 21km Half-Marathon race.

Madness for committing to a 4am wake-up? Tick.
Insanity for committing to a 4am start after performing a full opera the night before? Definitely.
But doing it all for a good cause?

Thanks :)"

Thank you also to Maddie Cowell and her supporters in our goal for mental health in Australia.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions, you know I'd be happy to hear from you.
 

"...do the thing you think you cannot do" - E. Roosevelt

Please click on Donate Now to make a secure online donation.

Thank you!