A MOTHER who was diagnosed with an incurable hereditary disease last year after struggling for 20 years to recover from a brain haemorrhage is now in training to run 5km for charity.

Anna Ashworth, is hoping to raise awareness of Huntington’s Disease, a rare genetic condition that affects all areas of the body from movement to thinking processes, during a sponsored run later this year.

Anna, 42, of Dursley, said the news that she had the condition devastated her family including her two children, aged 20 and 22, who both have a 50 per cent chance of getting the disease at some point in their life.

"The news completely devastated the children, it can be very hard to come to terms with," said Anna, a former counsellor.

"I found out my father had it two-and-a-half years ago and it totally knocked me.

"I thought to myself ‘prepare for the worst and hope for the best’, but I never in 1,000 years really believed I would have Huntington's."

Anna was already battling sides effects left over from a brain hemorrhage she had 20 years ago after the birth of her second child. She was told by doctors she might never walk or talk again, but through sheer determination Anna has managed to get her movement and speech back.

She struggles with stuttering and has lost all movement in her right arm, but is managing to jog for short distances for the first time.

"The Huntington’s means it is very difficult for the signals in my brain to reach my legs and tell them to run so just putting one foot in front of the other can be quite difficult," said Anna.

She has called her fundraising website ‘Anna Ashworth – Choosing Life’ because her philosophy is to never give up.

"I believe you have got a choice, you can either get strung down by it all and waste away or you can choose not to, and I choose not.

"I will choose not until the final curtain."

Anna is running the Cheltenham Racecourse 5km fun run for the Huntington’s Disease Association, which is searching for cures and treatments as well as trying to raise awareness of the relatively misunderstood disease.

"People have been so kind because they have either sponsored me or entered the race themselves.

"We need money into research so the next generation never see the effects of this horrible disease."

To sponsor Anna go to www.justgiving.com/anna-ashworth-choosing-life-xx