Kenya as an incredibly beautiful country and we feel privileged to be able to experience all it has to offer. We are also, sadly, surrounded by heartbreaking stories from the people we meet regarding their day to day struggles in a country with 60% unemployment and daily wages of $5-10 a day.

Vincent is the 12 year old Nephew of our housekeeper Fredah. He loves football and dancing! Over the last year he has developed a worsening protrusion of his right eye. After months of fundraising his family managed to raise enough money for him to have an MRI scan of his brain last November. This showed that he is had an enlarging bony growth in his skull (thought to be either an eosinophilic granuloma or osteoblastoma for any medics out there!). He has been advised that he needs surgery. There is only partial funding from his national insurance. The family are faced with self funding a large proportion of his operation. They are still £4000 short for the amount they need. Needless to say, his family have just enough income for day to day survival and this is an impossible amount of money for them. Everything has been put on hold while his family try to raise enough money for his medical care to proceed.

I plan to run the Lewa Half Marathon on 30th June. This is a world famous event that involves running across Lewa game reserve and attracts some of the greatest atheletes in the worlds. Kipchoge - the legendary recent winner of the London Marathon will be competing and I hope to finish at least 1/2 an hour ahead of him (he'll be doing an extra 13 miles).

If there is any way you could sponsor me to try and help Vincent then that would be an amazing help to him and his family.

Update: Thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and family I have neared my initial target of raising £1000 to help Vincent. Sadly this still leaves the family £3000 short. An old university friend of mine - Sue - is an anaesthetist in Michigan. She put me in touch with Kenya relief in the hope they may be able to help. Since then I have been in touch with Steve, Dusty and Tim who are clearly wonderful people. Steve arranged for Vincent's scans to reviewed by US doctors to ensure appropriate care being given. They confirmed that the scans showed a benign tumour that needed urgent neurosurgery to prevent compression of surrounding structures. A few days later Tim got in touch with the amazing news that he was prepared to post a link on the charity’s facebook pages, thus insuring the cause reaches a far wider audience.

If you can spare anything for Vincent it would be an amazing gift to this poor child and would truly transform his life.

Best Wishes

Ed