It says something about Wendy Chamberlain’s capacity for hard work that in amongst being Chief Whip, an energetic constituency MP, and running the Scottish elections that she’s going to be running the London Marathon two weeks today.

Here she is talking to Radio 5 Live about it this week:

Obviously we wish Wendy all the best in her endeavour, but we should all really put our money where our mouths are too. Wendy is using her run as an opportunity to raise money for two charities very close to her heart.

Wendy has been raising the issue of PANS PANDAS ever since a constituent came to her not long after she was elected. Donate here.

PANS PANDAS UK is a charity that was established by a dedicated group of parents with children that are affected by these conditions who were determined to make a difference to how these conditions are understood by both the general public and the medical profession.

I came across the conditions during my constituency work when I was contacted by a family who were struggling to support their daughter and navigating health and education challenges. I became a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for PANS PANDAs and led a debate in Parliament. Following the General Election in 2024 I secured a meeting for the charity with the relevant health minister.

Support for PANS PANDAS remains very patchy with families often dependent on having a supportive GP who is willing to consider the conditions as the cause of the very distressing symptoms that include OCD, tics, restrictive eating behaviours, anxiety and enuresis. The money raised from my maraton efforts will be used to support further research.

And we know from her Carer’s Leave Act how much supporting carers means to her. She is also raising money for Fife Carers’ Centre. Donate here.

Fife Carers’ Centre came into being in June 1995 with one part-time worker with the purpose of developing recognition and support for unpaid carers within Fife.

In the year that followed it became clear that the level of support needed for carers in Fife was greater than could be met by one individual and The Princess Royal Trust for Carers along with NHS Fife and Fife Council agreed to joint fund a carers centre for three years.

A small office was located in Commercial Street in Kirkcaldy and a staff of four began work supporting individual carers and raising awareness of the needs of carers in general with Health & Social work in Fife.

They now have 25 staff and deal with around 2500 new contacts from carers each year.

As the MP for North East Fife, I passed the Carer’s Leave Act in 2023 via a Private Members Bill, which, for the first time, gave unpaid carers an employment right to request time off work for their caring responsibilities. During the bills’ passage I met with the Fife Carers Centre team and carers that they were supporting.

Since then I have joined the Board of the Carers Centre and become a Honorary Vice President of Carers UK. Monies raised from my marathon efforts will go to support the day to day work of the Centre.

Wendy is hoping to raise £2,500 for each and is almost 60% of the way there for PANS PANDAS and 80% of the way there for Fife Carers’ Centre.  Please support her if you can.

Tom Gordon and Helen Morgan are also running and we’ll be featuring them at a later date.