Darren Kirk resides in Selston, a parish in Nottinghamshire, England. Both Darren and his two children have NF. Darren found out that he had NF when he was 27 (he is now 45). He found school to be very difficult and just couldn’t grasp many things. At age 11 he had a deformed chest bone removed only later to find out it was, indeed, NF-related. The surgery resulted in having a scar from nipple to nipple. Darren considers himself very lucky that his NF is mild; although he has a tumor in his head and while not on the brain itself it has woven itself amongst the fat content that surrounds the brain. His bones ache all the time and he experiences diminshed concentration and a very poor memory.

In Darren’s words, “My main concern now is for my two boys Kieran and Dane who both have NF. They are doing well but Kieran struggles at school. Dane has social problems and his issues can be hard work at times. I’ve done two sky dives now and raised about £6000 for the Neuro Foundation (the NF Charity in the UK). The last jump I got 20 people to participate with me, so I’ve set up another upcoming jump to help raise more awareness.”