Not many people realize that Attention Deficit/Hyper Activity Disorder affects more than 1 in 10 kids in America. Even fewer of us realize that simply labeling those children as ADHD sufferers or handing them a bottle of medication is almost worse than leaving them undiagnosed – almost, but not quite.

Hope So Bright is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness for a number of causes, including ADHD. Through the organization’s work and the launch of our new campaign, we hope to educate the national community about what living with ADHD really means.

We want to shed light on the epidemic of young people being medicated for ADD and ADHD without a proper diagnosis. It’s all too easy to mistake the symptoms of other emotional issues for those of an ADHD sufferer and medical professionals now believe this may have led to hundreds of wrong diagnoses over the years. The damage this has on a child and their family can be immeasurable.

Runner Mohamad Ahansal is 5 time Marathon Des Sables winner and 10 time 2nd place winner. He has opened our campaign to raise ADHD awareness at the Grand to Grand Ultra in Utah.

Meet Mohamad, a long-distance runner from Morocco who will be running as a Hope So Bright ambassador at the Grand to Grand Ultra Marathon from September 20th-26th, 2015.

Grand to Grand Ultra is a 6-stage, 7-day, self-supported foot race that spans 170 miles (273 KM). It starts from the awe-inspiring north rim of the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and finishes at the summit of the Grand Staircase, one of the world’s most iconic geological formations.

Mohamad Ahansal was born on January 1st, 1973 in Zagora, Morocco. Like his brother, runner Lahcen Ahansal, Mohamad spent his childhood as a nomad in the Sahara desert. For him, “education and experiences in the desert [have] been quite difficult. This is a very hard life, [which has] taught me to fight and persevere”.

Mohamed started running in another race, the legendary Marathon des Sables, when he was about 20 years old, and has since won the race a whopping five times.

Marathon des Sables has been crowned by the Discovery Channel as “the toughest footrace on Earth” and crosses through one of the world’s most inhospitable climates–the Sahara desert. In both 2002 and 2012, both Mohamad and Lahcen have been decorated by King Mohammed VI of Morocco for their performances.

In addition to his five first-place victories at Marathon des Sables, Mohamad holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the fastest crossing of the desert.

http://en.atlasmarathon.com/mohamad-ahansal/

Meet Linda Sanders, Hope So Bright’s founder and long-distance runner. She will be running as an ambassador for Hope So Bright at the 2015 Grand to Grand Challenge from September 20th-26th. She has been participating in extreme sports, particularly multi-day runs called “ultra stage races” since 2011, but has been an athlete since she was 13 years old as a girl in Mexico.

When she arrived in the United States at age 16, she started competing in bodybuilding competitions “winning a few times and losing many!” she says. After being disappointed with the use of steroids in bodybuilding, she began to cycle, run marathons and compete in triathlons.

A long-time advocate for children’s rights, Linda greatly enjoys combining her passions for running and charity.

Please help us make a difference in our efforts. Proceeds will go to the Joyful Heart Foundation.

The Joyful Heart Foundation’s mission it to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.

Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. The United States has one of the words records among industrialized nations losing an average of 4 and 7 children every day to child abuse and neglect.

http://www.g2gultra.com/