On Sunday, 15th April I will be running in the Brighton Marathon, yes the whole 26.2 miles or 42.195 kms (sounds way more) in order to raise some money for a rather incredible team of people to us and their Charities.

The first being for our Visual Impairment specialist and fantastic team who are part of the Childrens Services at HCC, in order for them to buy some sensory story sacks to lend out to schools and pre schools. These are quite expensive and not something they can usually buy.

Secondly, to link up with the charity Open Sight and help fund the family day out for VI families that they orgaise in May/June time. The VI team have been part of our lives since Alex came out of hospital, first with home visits, then to preschool and now to his current school.

Unfortunately, the surgery Alex needs to stop him going completely blind cannot happen, due to complicated scar tissue in his eye. We are hoping that technology and time is on our side but we also need to be realistic, so with the incredible support and help from the VI team, we are pushing Alex to discover as many sensations, places, experiences as possible and learn a form of sign language so he can communicate in his way, as he is still non-verbal. With this all in place, when he does go blind, he will have a fantastic "roadmap" in his head of life so far.

My inspiration for running is a no brainer, our awesome kids and amazing husband. In turn, I hope, once the embarrassment of seeing their red faced, hyperventilating, "last-again" mum has passed, Dani, Amy and Alex can learn that in life, never give up, never lose sight of your dreams, even if you're really crap at something!

I know how deep you all dug into your pockets last year, it blew us away and was one of the most incredible things to be part of. We are not expecting the same again, but if you have a couple of quid you could donate that would be awesome!

Thank you so much, love from Vicki, Nick, Dani, Amy and Alex xxxxx