A YOGA teacher will be spending the morning of her 36th birthday on top of Worcestershire Beacon performing sun salutations to raise money for a charity which supports a painful skin condition she suffers from.
Katherine Biggs, of Malvern Wells Yoga, will be performing the pose 36 times on Wednesday morning and hopes to raise £360 for the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust, which has supported her since she began suffering with the condition at the age of 15.
Mrs Biggs has regular bouts of the skin condition that leaves her in chronic pain and sometimes needing hospital treatment.
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is an inflammatory chronic skin disease which affects the acoprine sweat glands including the underarms, inner thighs, groin and buttocks.
While HS is a recognised medical condition, there is no cure for it and the medical profession remains mystified as to how to control it.
She explained: “Eventually it will burst but not before you have suffered days and days of pain.
“Sometimes the pain gets so much it is literally blinding and you can’t think of anything else.“A flare-up can last for days, weeks or even months but some people aren’t as lucky as me and they never, ever experience pain-free days.”
The debilitating condition has even led to her contracting blood poisoning when she was 21 and working in France.
She began yoga after a doctor told her that being overweight could exacerbate her HS.
Despite losing four and a half stone and dropping from a size 20 to a size 12, her condition did not get any better but yoga did help in other ways.
“I found that yoga is an excellent way to manage the stress and pain associated with the condition.
“I hope that by doing my 36 sun salutations and raising £360, I can contribute in a small way to the work done by the HS Trust as well as help to raise awareness and end the silent suffering.”
The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust aims to increase public knowledge and educate the medical profession on the symptoms, treatments and severities of HS.
It also hopes to provide vital funds for the purpose of research into causes, prevention and treatment.
Visit uk.virginmoneygiving.
com/MalvernWellsYoga.
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