Last year I told you the story of Jacob's diagnosis and how I felt at the time. This year let me tell you what happened next and why the NAS is such an important organisation for parents like me and my wife, Rachel. Let me make clear before I start that Jacob is an absolute blessing - I would not change him for the world. In fact, I wouldn't even 'cure' him: autism is such a pervasive condition that if it were taken away from him then he would lose a huge part of what makes him, him.

Our first interaction with the NAS was early on, after Jacob's diagnosis. We were still pretty downbeat about his prognosis, and could only see the worst case scenarios. He wasn't talking at that time, was still not toilet trained and we had dark thoughts about changing our 18-year-old's nappy in years to come. However, we went on an 'Earlybird' course,  and this was the first time that we had met other parents of children with Autism. Through those interactions, and the course itself, we had hope for the first time. Parents telling us about their children that didn't speak until they were 5, but could now communicate; home videos where we could see kids who were using a level of social imagination that we barely could believe Jacob would ever have; displays of affection that were more 'normal' that Jacob could at that time display.

Since that time, things have moved on. Jacob has moved on. He learned to talk, he started mainstream primary school (albeit with a full-time special needs assistant and in a lovely school). We've been blessed. We've not needed to lean on the NAS as we have been able to get through things, in no small part thanks to Rachel's dogged determination to fight every step of the way for Jacob's rights. Not all autistic children are so lucky. They may be much more cognitively impaired or their parents might not be able to fight so effectively as Rachel has or perhaps their school hasn't been supportive. We've seen it with other families, and know how much the NAS and their affiliated local groups have helped.

Even for us, we have no idea what the future holds. As it stands, Jacob can't live an independent life as he grows into an adult, and with the woeful adult autism help available from the government, we will rely more and more on charities like the NAS.

So, this year, as last year, I will be riding 100 miles for the NAS on the Prudential RideLondon-100. This is my own place that I won and paid for in the main ballot - every penny you donate will go straight to the charity (minus JustGiving's cut). If my story has touched you, and you want to help all those children out there like Jacob please give generously. As an extra incentive, my employer will match everything up to the first £1000 donated.

Thank you for reading!