Hair today gone tomorrow

Late last year I took part in a 24 hour video gaming marathon, with the aim being to raise money for a well-loved organization the JDRF. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has helped thousands of people worldwide with both support, and ground breaking research into Type-1 Diabetes.

It’s a disease which affects around three million people in the US alone, and of course doesn’t differentiate between adults and children. Unlike Type-2 diabetes, T1 can’t be managed with diet and exercise alone, and while it can and does have a huge impact on lifestyle, charities such as JDRF do what they can to help those diagnosed continue with their lives with as little change as possible.

Our fundraising Drive had a relatively modest target of £500 (around $700 US), but we were thrilled to be supported by some big names in the gaming industry such as Thrustmaster, Epic Games (creators of the Unreal Engine) and many more. With support worldwide, the event kicked off in December and the 24 hours started.

It doesn’t sound that hard, maybe, to play video games for 24 hours (and you’d almost be right in thinking that). Certainly the first few hours are a fairly enjoyable breeze and it’s enjoyable to watch the funds trickle in through JustGiving, where they’d be going straight to the JDRF. Hitting around the 6 hour mark (around 4pm) things start to get a little tougher as the constant concentration hits in a little harder, and by the halfway mark we were positively hanging.

After delivery of an emergency snack from a fast food restaurant which shall remain unnamed (eaten while playing still, of course), we carried on and at 5am after 19 hours we found a second wind after finally hitting out £500 target. Of course this didn’t mean that we could rest easy, we still had 5 hours to go until our 10am deadline was reached, and reach it we would!

What we were not expecting after that was for the total post to reach an amazing £1,670 ($2,330) by the end of the live stream, smashing our target over three times. We were elated, and though of course very tired we celebrated with vim and vigour when 10am finally rolled around. Of course, this meant that I had to follow on with my pledge to chop off my rather long hair.

After growing it since May I had pledged a hair donation of my own if we hit our £500 goal, and of course with it smashed I could hardly back down. So off to the hairdressers we went with bag in hand, and a short amount of time later (and with hair not looking TOO bizarre) I emerged carrying 4 rather thick plaits of hair, at around 17” each. These have been shipped off since to the Little Princess Trust, in order to make wigs for children and young adults who for whatever reason, are unable to grow their own.

It was a funny old December, and though suffering a little from the tiredness and illness that the 24 hour stream can sometimes bring, I’m happy to have done my bit for two wonderful causes, and that’ll do me well… until later this year, of course