As many of you know, my son Mattia was born 7 weeks premature at the Whittington Hospital in North London. It was the first snow of the year. 

Thankfully, there were no underlying issues, but having been born this early meant that he would have to remain in hospital for three weeks, first with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and later with the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).  

We owe a tremendous debt to the NHS. The level of care and support we received is unparalleled, and I will always be grateful that Mattia was born here. Despite years of Tory austerity policies, of funding cuts and strikes and services scaled down to the bare minimum, the NHS was there for my family. 

Five years on, Mattia is a healthy and happy child. He is creative and loving, extremely sensitive and ridiculously funny. He is thriving at school, loves numbers and singing, thinks space is too dark and wants to know the number before infinity. He is my best friend.

During our stay at the Whittington, we met people from Whittington Babies, a charity which supports families of sick and premature babies. They fundraise to procure medical equipment for the NICU and SCBU wings of the hospital and provide much needed parent support. It's run by parents who previously had children in similar situations, and I have always wanted to give back, in one way or another. 

So I am running the ASICS London 10k race on 9 July, and would love it if you could sponsor me.

Francisco