Sarah Brown supports John's charity
The Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown gave her support to charity Lupus UK at a 10 Downing Street reception organised after she was contacted on Twitter by a Staffordshire man.
The Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown gave her support to charity Lupus UK at a 10 Downing Street reception organised after she was contacted on Twitter by a Staffordshire man.
John Hibbs, aged 31, of Bakers Way, Hednesford, contacted her to tell her about the work of the charity and his fundraising efforts.
As a result charity members from across the UK were invited to the reception on Tuesday night. Gordon Brown was unable to attend due to other commitments but Chancellor Alistair Darling's wife Maggie also turned out.
John, who is raising funds for the West Midlands group of the charity, went along with six members of his family.
"It was a fantastic night and it has achieved the aim of raising awareness about lupus. The following day Sarah Brown sent several tweets mentioning lupus and the work the charity is doing and she has nearly a million followers," he said.
It was revealed recently that Mrs Brown had overtaken comedy star Steven Fry as the most followed celebrity on the social networking site - and she now has 835,000 followers catching up on her tweets.
John said that the reception had also been a boost for health professionals who would be going back to their health trusts to raise the profile of work with lupus patients.
John sent his original message to Sarah Brown to tell her about his plans to run in the London Marathon. He is raising funds because his sister Vicki Hibbs, 26, also of Hednesford, was diagnosed with the connective tissue disease 18 months ago.
John, an information technology analyst and part-time football scout for Liverpool, along with his family and friends have already raised £3,000 for the group through fun runs and car boot sales since Vicki, of Whitethorn Close, was diagnosed.
John suffers with arthritis but he is determined that he will complete the marathon course in April next year.
He has also been in contact with Wolverhampton singer Beverley Knight who has agreed to help the group.
People can sponsor John through his website at www.hibbsy.com
