Matt's on a Mission for APP!

This year, Matt, a dad of two from Fleetwood in Lancashire, has been on a mission to get fit at the same time as raising funds and awareness for APP. 

He set himself the challenge of taking on a half marathon AND a triathlon before the end of September, and has been building up to these with lots of running, swimming and cycling throughout the year.  Here Matt explains what he's doing and why he decided to take on this epic challenge:

'At the beginning of the year, I started a health and fitness journey to help myself and my wellbeing.  I am now really enjoying this with many challenges already complete and more to come:

• 4 x 10k runs complete
• A half marathon coming up on 25th August (my first ever)
• A sprint triathlon made up of 400m swim, 20km bike and a 5K run (my first ever) on 22nd September
• I am now toying with the idea of a marathon in 2025!!!

I thought that this would also be an ideal opportunity to help raise some funds and awareness for a charity.  After doing some research it was a no brainer!  APP was the charity I chose with it being a charity that me and my family can relate to having being personally affected by this illness.

Watching my then partner, now wife, go through postpartum psychosis was really tough. What was supposed to be a happy and exciting time in our lives adding a second child to our already perfect family, turned out a very difficult and testing period for my wife (especially) and I.

When this illness hit, I was not aware what it was, or how this was caused and we had to contact our local midwife team, who then explained in what my wife was experiencing and how it can be helped/treated. We were then referred to our local mental health crisis team who started to diagnose and treat my wife.

This was a long process for us all but the support for my wife at this time was vital. Taking extended time periods off work and changing our short-term living arrangements amongst other changes really helped with the recovery.

It also really helped that we have a very strong and supportive family network around us.

Any funds and awareness I can raise is a massive help – even if I tell just one person about this illness, I feel like this could make a big difference.

I have had a dedicated race top made where local businesses got involved, buying a ‘sponsor’ space for a fee that went straight to my donations page. I am trying everything to get the donations in and counting on the generosity of my community to help.'

You can follow Matt's journey via his instagram page @mattymeck_fitnessjourney, and you can add your support for his mission here.

Matt - you are an inspiration! We can't wait to hear how your first ever half marathon and triathlon go - thank you so much for sharing your journey with us and for your support for APP.