Thanks so much for considering supporting me. I've been lucky enough to do a number of sponsored challenges in my life, but this is the most important one yet. The reasons? There are a  few:

- my good friends Michelle and Harry recently had a gorgeous son, Oscar, who had rather an extended stay at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); without the NICU team's support Oscar would have died, and I want to raise funds to support their work and thank them

- I am just leaving CW+ as Chief Exec; it has been an incredible time, and I care deeply about the organisation, its impact, my team and my board - this is my way of thanking and recognising these brilliant people

- one of my most uplifting experiences at CW+ has been supporting Dr Enitan Ogundipe, an inspiring academic clinician, and her team to do ground-breaking research into an awful disease, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC); this research matters - it will help prevent and cure NEC, which is like gangrene of the gut, and it will also offer powerful insights into brain development, infant nutrition and the immune system that will have much broader benefits for child health

- Enitan and her team's work has been supported by an amazing group of donors/parents - Aga, Andrew, Angela, Brian, Jane, Micaela - who have given and raised over £350,000 so far. I want to honour their incredible efforts.

I am joining Michelle, Harry and 7 others on our bike ride. I would really value your support to raise £25,000 for this NEC research. Thank you so much. 

Mark