Team Tobyn do it again!

Throughout 2025, our work has been supported by the most wonderful people taking on amazing challenges. This team of family members and friends who have become known as "Team Tobyn" went to incredible lengths to raise funds to support Juvenile Arthritis Research. 

We caught up with Beckie Ranyard, Tobyn's mum, to tell us more about it: 

Our son, Tobyn, was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis last April. As is sadly often the case with young children, receiving a diagnosis can be a lengthy process, and it took two years for him to finally get the answers we needed. Since starting treatment, he has been doing remarkably well. He now takes his weekly injection of methotrexate like a pro, despite some initial protests! We are incredibly grateful for how far he has come. Although there are days when he experiences stiffness and pain, he handles it with such resilience. We hope and pray that this continues, as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis can be unpredictable.

The reason we decided to raise money for Juvenile Arthritis Research is to help raise awareness about this condition. Our hope is that increased understanding will lead to quicker diagnoses for other children facing similar challenges. It’s hard to believe that a four-year-old could have arthritis!

So together with a group of family and friends, aged between 9 and 79, we committed to walking or running two miles every day throughout December. We even got out on Christmas Day, with some running along the coastal path in North Shields while others took part in a nearby parkrun in Sedgefield – Santa hats were essential!

We’ve all really enjoyed getting out and about, but we’re especially proud to have helped raise some much-needed funds for Juvenile Arthritis Research.

This challenge followed on from the team walking 10,000 steps a day in June. Across both challenges nearly £4,000 has been raised so far. We are so grateful to everyone that has supported us and it has been brilliant to be able to raise awareness in the media too! 

Team Tobyn have been featured in the press at https://swd.news/raynard-family-take-on-challenge-to-help-children-with-arthritis/ as well as being invited onto Radio Tees for an interview to talk more about JIA and about their incredible fundraising challenges. 

We are very grateful for all the support we have received from Team Tobyn! 

If you've been inspired by this fabulous group of fundraisers and want to start your own fundraising journey to support our work, please visit www.jarproject.org/fundraising to request a free fundraising pack and start your fundraising journey.