The little boy you see above is Taylor, my four and a half year old son. Taylor was born with Down Syndrome and will face challenges all his life. For those of you that know him, I don't need to elaborate on how friendly, happy and cheeky he is. Consistently surprising us in all areas and running us off our feet....
However one of his weaker areas is speech development. I was invited to join Down South London when Taylor was around 6 months old, and ever since then have been full of nothing but praise and gratitude towards this parent set-up/run group. They provide invaluable and most importantly frequent intense speech therapy for children like Taylor.
We have learnt most of our Makaton signing from the sessions and seen Taylor progress steadily. However there is still a long way to go.
Down South London desperately requires funds in order to carry on offering this amazing service to not only Taylor, but the other 40
(approx) children in the group.
Not surprisingly this sort of therapy does not come cheap; just to give you an idea- £20 covers the cost of a child to attend a group party with other members of the group £50 provides a child with an hour of specialist group therapy £90 provides a child with an access pack to fully support their therapy with fun and educational resources £1400 covers the cost of a group's therapy for a term (3 kids) These figures demonstrate just how important it is not only for me, but the other runners from our charity, to raise as much as possible.
My first fund-raising effort for the group was a sponsored Buggy Walk around Battersea Park, when Taylor was tiny. Friends and family were incredibly generous and supportive of this comparatively tame effort back then, so I am now asking you to please please sponsor me again.
I am not quite sure how I got roped into attempting this Half Marathon, but it involves Reading, my sister and a whale shark....(full story forthcoming upon further questioning) Training for this race has been somewhat challenging. Finding the time, let alone coping with the physical demands has been hard and rest assured, I will NOT be attempting another race like this for quite some time...!
Thanks here to Esme Floyd-Hall, my best friend, who is running the race with me and has mentally supported me throughout the training. As well as telling me not to worry about how much chocolate I have been eating.
So please sponsor me whatever amount you feel like giving. I will be delighted with anything and everything.
And if Taylor gets his hands on you, you will receive a serious cuddle and big old kiss.
Thank you so much,
Jules x
