Washington Haemophiliac To Complete Every Tough Mudder

1 May 2015, 12:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Carl Sanderson from Washington's attempting to complete every Tough Mudder obstacle run in the country - that's 16 in all!

Carl has the rare blood disorder haemophilia, which means even taking part in one Tough Mudder event's risky.

Normally, when you cut yourself, substances in the blood known as clotting factors combine with blood cells called platelets to make the blood sticky. This makes the bleeding stop eventually.

However, in haemophilia, there aren't as many clotting factors as there should be in the blood. This means that someone with the condition bleeds for longer than usual.

The condition is passed to a child by one or both of their parents.

Doctors advised Carl that he shouldn't compete in  the Tough Mudder event s because of the nature of haemophilia, but that made him more determined to do them.

He told us:
"When I saw the Tough Mudder videos on YouTube I was hooked on it.

Being told I couldn't do it made it worse - I had to do it.

The doctors and nurses at Newcastle Haemophilia Centre at the RVI have been great.

They known me for years so they knew whether they said yes or no, I was gonna do it.

They've given me a good treatment plan, and I just have to go in and see them after the events."

He's hoping by doing all 16 events, across 8 weekends, all around the country, he can raise awareness for haemophilia and other bleeding disorders and help change the image of how others see people with the condition.

He's also raising money, which will go towards a fun and educational treatment room for the children and their families effected by bleeding disorders at The RVI Newcastle, Haemophilia Centre.

This will help them understand the condition and treatments better.

Any money raised will also go towards funding a scanner, which will help the staff at the centre identify bleeds sooner and allow them to monitor patients joints and the long term effects from internal bleeding.

There's more info on Carl's challenge on his Facebook page and also his JustGiving page