Jonathan Whitehead

Cycling 215miles at aged 12 is a huge achievement but raising £1700 shows a great strength of determination and conviction. He is an inspiration because, although he suffers from epilepsy, he wanted to raise money to support those whose condition is worse than his. Jonathan is thirteen and suffers from epilepsy. He suffered quite badly from the age of 6, having several grand mal seizures a month. After a seizure he had a severe headache and could not function properly for up to 24 hours, although he usually tried to continue with life as normally as possible. One boy at school teased him and called him "epilepsy boy" which wasn't easy for him. He is now on medication, that is working for him and he has been seizure free for 18 months. Last summer he decided he wanted to raise money to support people who had epilepsy worse than him. He chose to support the charity Epilepsy Action UK. At age 12, he organised to cycle 215miles across the Trans Pennine trail from Southport to Hornsea. In sponsorship money from family, friends, school and church he raised a staggering £1700. He was really brave and in order to raise more money, he faced telling people about his condition, which he had been fearful of, since the name calling at Primary school.