Maddie Taylor, who lives in Overton, Hampshire, will be taking on the Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge on Saturday (29th April) to raise funds for The Migraine Trust, the UK’s leading migraine charity.
21-year-old Maddie, who lives with migraine with aura and hemiplegic migraine, will walk an epic 25 kilometres along the Isle of Wight’s hilly coastal path.
As part of her training, Maddie is also taking part in March for Migraine, which involves walking 190,000 steps in March to represent the 190,000 migraine attacks that happen each day in the UK.
Symptoms of a migraine attack can include severe headache, nausea, dizziness and visual disturbances. Hemiplegic migraine is a rare form of migraine that mimics symptoms of a stroke and involves temporary weakness down 1 side of the body.
Explaining why she is raising funds for The Migraine Trust, Maddie said:
“I’m 21 and I’ve had migraine attacks since I can remember. At first I only experienced the classic migraine symptoms, I’d have the head pain and get aura and sickness sometimes too. In 2018, I was also diagnosed with hemiplegic migraine.
“It was frightening when I had my first hemiplegic migraine attack. I was at college and the whole left side of my body went numb. I also get very blurry vision and feel really confused. My parents were away so my granny took me to see the on call doctor at my local GP. We thought it might be a stroke.
“I really want to do something for people with migraine because I’ve had migraine my whole life. I’m also hoping that training for the challenge and keeping fit might improve my migraine.
Article continues below this advertisement “I chose the Isle of Wight because I love its scenery and have been there a lot. I’ve chosen to do 25 kilometres rather than 54 because I have an exam a few days later, and I think training for 54 kilometres combined with exam stress would probably bring on a migraine attack!
“I hope my Ultra Challenge helps to raise some much needed awareness about migraine. People need to understand that it is not ‘just a headache’ and that it can affect your whole life and career.”
Thanking Maddie for her support, Rob Music, chief executive of The Migraine Trust, said:
“We are in awe and so grateful to Maddie for taking on this epic challenge to help people affected by migraine. As Maddie knows first-hand, migraine is debilitating and painful and affects many aspects of a person’s life. She is a true inspiration.
“Not only is Maddie raising crucial funds that will help support our work and those affected by migraine, she’s also raising awareness of this often misunderstood brain disease. We wish Maddie all the very best as she takes on her Ultra Challenge and hope she has a very long rest afterwards.”
If you would like to help people affected by migraine, you can support Maddie’s fundraising for The Migraine Trust through her fundraising page.
If you would like information about migraine and how The Migraine Trust can help you manage it, or how you can support the charity, go to migrainetrust.org.
Well done! Good on you girl!