The power of connections - running for Epilepsy research

So back to work today, over into our Birmingham office this morning, and once again another remarkable connection made in the chain of good causes that this blog has opened my eyes to.

In my recent posts, I've written about the London Marathon, written about Serene Low's fantastic epilepsy awareness blog and on comedian Russell Howard running for the National Society for Epilepsy charity.

As a new month begins I've totalled up the available online earnings funds and am in the process of sorting out donations to the charities I've highlighted in the last couple of weeks.

Then whilst in the office canteen getting my morning tea and toast, there I see a small notice plaque about one of my UK based work colleagues Mark Pickard, running in the London Marathon on behalf of Epilepsy Research UK.  tear off a strip of paper with the fundraising website address

uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Pickard

Here in their own words are their reasons for taking part on behalf their son Harry.

"We have decided to run the London marathon this year TOGETHER! and we are running for the charity Epilepsy Research UK, for a cause that mean a lot to us.

Harry is a very happy and healthy 9 year old, but in 2005 he started to collapse for no apparent reason, at first it was thought he was having "normal" childhood feberal convulsions, however as the frequency and severity of these collapses increased further tests diagnosed Epilepsy. Our worst fears were realised as Fiona has had live through her father having Epilepsy for over 30 years. However Harry's type of Epilepsy has now been diagnosed (Atonic) and he has been treated successfully for over 4 now and we have had only a few recurrences. Hopefully he will grow out of his Epilepsy, but he may well have to be on medication for some time maybe indefinitely. However both Harry and his Grandfather are very well, and we have no reason to think that Epilepsy will adversely effect their lives.

However the experience has motivated us to try and repay in some way the support we have had in diagnosing Harry's Epilepsy, and we have decided to try and lug our bodies around the streets of London on the 25th of April.

Making a difference - my first donations!

Once again a warm welcome to all my new and existing followers!.

Since joining up with Blog catalog a week or two back I've been lucky enough to make some fantastic contacts within the online blogging community, spread wide across the world.

So I think it's high time that I provided a recap on what I'm trying to achieve here, as well as an update on how things are going so far

What's it all about?

For the benefit of those newcomers, here's a quick bit of background on this blog. Like most of us out there, I lead a very busy life, juggling precious family time with demanding work commitments. I've always had a major passion for writing, and over the last two years in particular through online review sites and the like, I've dedicated a lot of my spare time to dipping my toes in the murky freelance earning waters.

After coming through a serious health scare in the last few months, I've been able to make a lot of positive changes to my work / family life balance, have changed long standing poor dietary habits and rediscovered a balanced exercise routine, which has made a huge difference to me in so many ways.

In simple statistical terms to date I've lost just over 30 pounds since December but the real impact in terms of rediscovering my energy and passion for life is immeasurable.

As for my writing, I had always had this dream of just packing in the IT day job, and throwing all my efforts into a rewarding freelance career. As soon as I'd made it big, then I could really give something back, support all those charities and causes that have meant so much to me over the years.

Guess what? 

In a sudden wave of inspiration it hit me.

 Right now I get to write about whatever means something to me.

If I go down the all freelance route, being realistic the chances are very high that I would have to prioritise finding ways to scrap and scrape a living , writing about things that really don't interest me, just to get by.
What do I love best about writing online - the feedback, the sense of community, the freedom to write what and when I like  - it's certainly not the financial reward!

So I dusted down my original entirely purposeless blog, and came up with a theme that I could really believe in.

In March 2010 , Make a difference was born. Sharing positive, inspiring stories, highlighting amazing charities and fundraising initiatives.

And my own personal commitment.

Every single penny that I earn online, whether that be from existing review sites, spare time surveys, adsense revenues, cash back shopping etc. - I will give directly to charities.

Donations update

So I've gone through a number of my existing online earnings sources which had reached payout threshold levels and as a result these are the donations I've been able to give so far.

The grand total so far is (drumroll......) £81.40!