Maldon: Ella's family to run Maldon mud race (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)
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Maldon: Ella's family to run Maldon mud race
1:00pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in Local News By Emma Robinson
Lara Barden, left, with sister-in-law Jodie.
The family of a girl with a fatal premature aging syndrome have decided to run the Maldon mud race for charity.
Lara Barden, of Orchard Road, Maldon, has vowed to complete the famously messy race in honour of her niece Ella.
Six-year-old Ella has been diagnosed with Cockayne Syndrome, a rare condition which affects only two babies in every million.
Mum Jodie Barden and her husband Luke, 27, suffered extra heartache when they found out their unborn daughter, who is due in April, also has the syndrome.
It means the girls have an average life expectancy of 12 years.
Jodie, 26, is now urging family, friends and well-wishers to run the Maldon mud race in May for the Amy and Friends charity, which provides support to the sufferers of Cockayne Syndrome and their families.
She said: “I won’t be doing the run because I would have only given birth the month before but I would have done it."
See this week's MBS for the full story.
