Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As many of you know  my youngest son, Mahdi, suffered pneumococcal meningitis in 2014 when he was just 7 months old. Sadly the illness was diagnosed and treated very late which resulted in him acquiring severe brain injury. After a never ending 3 month stay in John Radcliffe hospital (Oxford) Mahdi had recovered enough to return home and begin his rehabilitation.

During his rehabilitation Cerebra were one of the many charities and organisations that supported us. They provided us with a whole collection of sensory toys and equipment to aid in Mahdi's recovery. To buy the equipment alone would have cost hundreds if not thousands of pounds but thanks to Cerebra we were able to access it absolutely free.

With Mahdi and other children with neurological conditions its often impossible to predict their outcome. All we can try do as parents, family and friends is give them the best possible chance in life to progress and donating to Cerebra will certainly help to achieve that. So please open your hearts (and wallets) and donate generously for this cause. While the loss from your account will only be temporary the benefit felt by those who need the help will be permanent.

In return for your donation, Ben and I will be running the Oxford half marathon on Sunday 9th October. For those of you that know me you will know that running really is not my thing (its so boring!) so this really will be a big challenge. As for Ben, he had barely run 2 consecutive steps since becoming a father at the start of the year. Less than one month ago he foolishly decided to start jogging and now more foolishly still he has allowed me to convince him to run a half marathon in less than a months time. I think its fair to say we're both going to struggle a bit but your generous donations will make it all worth it! Thanks

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.