Firstly thanks for taking the time to view this page, i am running the London Marathon on April 25th 2010 and am trying to raise as much money as i can for my chosen charity the 'National Autistic Society'. I am also raising money for a charity called 'Sense' which supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind.

On December 4th 2009, about 4 months ago, our world changed forever as that was the day my beautiful baby boy Arvind was diagnosed with autism, he is my youngest of two sons and is going to be 3 years old this week.Since that day, our world has totally changed, everything which used to be important, now means hardly anything to me, all i want now is to do everything i can for my son, to make him happy and keep him safe forever. 

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He is such a soft boy, and so so cute, somtimes i feel like its just not fair what has happened, but then i just have to tell myself, "this is real life and these things happen" , infact worse things happen, so we just have to do the best we can to help him.  

He has just started a intensive one-to-one home based programme, which is run by a fantastic team of good honest people, and we are going to try our best to help my son, because he is young we still have a chance, i have always liked a challenge, and now i have the biggest of my life, the challenge to save my son from autism. If it does not happen, so be it, but we will never stop hoping and fighting to make a difference for him.  

The hardest thing for me personally is that my son has never spoke a word yet, but on the day he does, or if he does, i will be the happiest man on this earth, and i mean that. Most autistic children find it very hard to make eye contact, and when my son was young he never responded to me, which broke my heart so bad, he was literally in his own little world but now when i come home from work he sometimes even comes up to me and i pick him up and swing him around and hold his hands so that he can jump up and down, as he just loves jumping.

Sorry to go quite deep, but i think thats enough now and im going to get back onto subject, its just that it can be hard explaining to people how you feel, as everyone has their own worries, and sometimes it can be tiring having the same conversation with different people, but i do actually feel better for writing the above, also alot of people dont really know what autism is, which makes it even harder to talk about, i did not even know myself what autism really was before it entered our life. 

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them. People with autism have difficulties with everyday social interaction.' NAS website

The real reason i initially wanted to run the marathon was for the personal experience, at that point my life was nice and normal, but midway through the training programme Arvind was diagnosed, and literally the next day, i was so upset and generally angry that i went out on a run and went from a best of 6 miles to 13 miles overnight, which i thought was impossible for me , as every week me and my training partner used to only increase the miles by 1 a week. Then as the days went on, i found running really helped me to stay on track, as i had a specific goal and i was determined not to fail, as i said to myself, "if i can actually run this marathon, then i can do anything", and i drummed it into my head that i must complete this marathon and not give up, it somehow felt i was doing this run for Arvind, i dont know why i started to feel that, maybe i needed some serious inspiration , and that was what i clung onto, but it has worked and actually by doing all this running recently, i actually feel better prepared to take on the challenge of autism.   

I hope to raise alot of money for this charity but also alot of awareness, as autism is now reported to affect 1 in every 100, which is huge (maybe even some of you after reading this with google the word 'autism' and learn a little more about it)  A good link for info is www.autism.org.uk

Here is an great example of how your donation will help.

£15 helps pay for an Autism Helpline advisor to send information to five worried parents, which once upon a time was me

£25 pays for the first stage of training a volunteer befriender

£50 gives 10 people access to the Autism Helpline providing information and support to people with autism and their families

£75 pays for three families to attend an EarlyBird programme providing vital help and support to families of pre-school children with autism. Which is the course me and my wife just finished and found very supportive.

£100 helps pay for a child to be diagnosed at an NAS assessment centre

Also by giving money , you are helping in two ways, as one the money will help the charity and two, the more people i get to sponser me, the more pressure it will put me under to finish the marathon, as when i am feeling really tired and when my body will feel like stoping, probably around the 18 mile mark, then i will remember all the people who have gone out their way to sponser me and that will hopefully give me the extra push i need to finish.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my page- any donation no matter how small will be most gracefully received!!

Gus

ps, if you would like your donation to go to the other great charity i am running for instead, ie 'Sense' , please view http://www.justgiving.com/Gopinder-Chahal

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer, so it’s the most efficient way to donate.

So please dig deep and donate now.