AUTO IMMUNE AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (A.I.M.S)

Will's page

Will Burns

Will Burns

My Story

About

I am running the London Marathon on the 26th April 2026 to raise money for AIMS. This comes after my previous successful fundraiser in October 2024 for the Manchester Half Marathon where I raised £1,346, so I'm aiming to more than double my previous amount for a race that's more than double the difficulty!

This is to help people like my amazing Mum, who has lived with Multiple Sclerosis since before me and my sister Alice were born.

Around 2011, my mum moved into the progressive stages of MS, as her condition changed from having relapses in symptoms every few years, into a steady progression of worsening symptoms. At the time, I was too young to understand what this meant but seeing my mum move from being an active person and a great tennis player in her day, to being wheelchair bound within a few years whilst growing up was difficult to navigate.

In 2017, our family and friends raised £45,000 to send my mum to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico to undergo a progression halting and life saving procedure called HSCT (Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant). The guidelines to receive HSCT for MS from the NHS are limited, and many patients have to fundraise, use their life savings or inheritance to get themselves this treatment.

HSCT, in short, involves extracting stem cells, cleaning and restoring them, all while the patient undergoes intense rounds of chemotherapy to reset the immune system. The stem cells are then re-introduced into the body, then the patient lives in isolation for months to rebuild the immune system.

Thankfully, this procedure saved my mum’s life and she’ll now be able to see me and my sister’s achievements throughout our lives. I’m raising money for AIMS to help people with MS just like my mum, to get access to this life changing procedure as each and every MS patient and their families should have the chance to do.

AIMS’ mission is to preserve and protect the health of UK patients suffering with MS and / or haematologically-rooted Autoimmune Disease, in the provision of signposting, support & grants. We are the first charity with a focus on HSCT ( Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant) for MS & Autoimmune Disease.

The London Marathon has become an annual, inspiring and colourful fixture in the world’s sporting calendar since the inaugural race on 29 March 1981: a celebration of fun, fundraising and fancy dress.

Over the years more than a million people have completed the 26.2-mile course – which runs from Blackheath to The Mall, with a spectacular finish in front of Buckingham Palace, showcasing the very best that the capital city has to offer.

What’s more, these participants have raised over a billion pounds for charity and there have been countless amazing tales of human achievement throughout the event’s history – living up to its aim of helping participants ‘to have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world’.

AUTO IMMUNE AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (A.I.M.S)

Raising for:

AUTO IMMUNE AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (A.I.M.S)
53%

Funded

  • Target
    £3,500
  • Raised so far
    £1,867
  • Number of donors
    76

My Story

About

I am running the London Marathon on the 26th April 2026 to raise money for AIMS. This comes after my previous successful fundraiser in October 2024 for the Manchester Half Marathon where I raised £1,346, so I'm aiming to more than double my previous amount for a race that's more than double the difficulty!

This is to help people like my amazing Mum, who has lived with Multiple Sclerosis since before me and my sister Alice were born.

Around 2011, my mum moved into the progressive stages of MS, as her condition changed from having relapses in symptoms every few years, into a steady progression of worsening symptoms. At the time, I was too young to understand what this meant but seeing my mum move from being an active person and a great tennis player in her day, to being wheelchair bound within a few years whilst growing up was difficult to navigate.

In 2017, our family and friends raised £45,000 to send my mum to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico to undergo a progression halting and life saving procedure called HSCT (Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant). The guidelines to receive HSCT for MS from the NHS are limited, and many patients have to fundraise, use their life savings or inheritance to get themselves this treatment.

HSCT, in short, involves extracting stem cells, cleaning and restoring them, all while the patient undergoes intense rounds of chemotherapy to reset the immune system. The stem cells are then re-introduced into the body, then the patient lives in isolation for months to rebuild the immune system.

Thankfully, this procedure saved my mum’s life and she’ll now be able to see me and my sister’s achievements throughout our lives. I’m raising money for AIMS to help people with MS just like my mum, to get access to this life changing procedure as each and every MS patient and their families should have the chance to do.

AIMS’ mission is to preserve and protect the health of UK patients suffering with MS and / or haematologically-rooted Autoimmune Disease, in the provision of signposting, support & grants. We are the first charity with a focus on HSCT ( Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant) for MS & Autoimmune Disease.

The London Marathon has become an annual, inspiring and colourful fixture in the world’s sporting calendar since the inaugural race on 29 March 1981: a celebration of fun, fundraising and fancy dress.

Over the years more than a million people have completed the 26.2-mile course – which runs from Blackheath to The Mall, with a spectacular finish in front of Buckingham Palace, showcasing the very best that the capital city has to offer.

What’s more, these participants have raised over a billion pounds for charity and there have been countless amazing tales of human achievement throughout the event’s history – living up to its aim of helping participants ‘to have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world’.