A FAMILY is preparing to tackle the Yorkshire Three Peaks next week to raise cash and awareness for a condition which affects balance and hearing.

Ian Thomas, 46, from Richmond, suffers from Meniere’s disease, a rare disorder that affects the inner ear and can cause vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss, and when he has an attack his symptoms are so debilitating he struggles to walk and is constantly sick.

Mr Thomas, along with his wife Fiona, and her two sisters Christine Mudd and Tanya Cole, will take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks on March 28, to raise awareness and raise cash for the Meniere’s Society, which funds research into the condition.

Mrs Thomas said: “Ian’s first unexplained attack was in December 2011 with a further three in 2012. At that time neither of us had heard of the disease.

“In 2013, Ian had the most awful attack at the side of the road which kept us there for a good two hours before we could get him back in the car. The drive home, all on back roads, took all day from just north of Carlisle to Richmond. We were terrified at what was wrong.

“That was the start of something that has plagued him to the present day. Attacks were happening every few days or weeks, so hideous they made a grown man bounce off walls going up the stairs to the bathroom where he would stay for hours being violently sick.”

Mrs Thomas said her husband worked for himself at a Richmond garage and was well supported by staff when he was ill.

She said: “We have had so many donations from customers and suppliers who had no idea until recently that Ian suffers from the disease, because he’s so happy all the time.”

Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/Fiona-Thomas9