Those of you who know Ardean and myself will be aware that our amazing little boy Arthur is 3 years old and has a speech delay, despite hitting every other developmental milestone. By the age of 18 months, the average child uses around 20 words yet at that stage Arthur had less than five.  

Arthur was lucky enough to secure a place on a ten-week intensive therapy nursery placement provided by ICAN, the children's communication charity (www.ican.org.uk), and the difference we can see in his communication, confidence and expressiveness, even after just a few weeks, is astounding.

ICAN are an excellent charity doing essential work but the number of nursery places they can currently provide is limited – they have just two nursery settings providing intensive speech and language therapy in the whole of London. They estimate that around one million children in the UK have speech, language and communication issues, roughly one in ten which works out at an average of three kids per mainstream school classroom. Your donations will enable ICAN to help more children like Arthur at a critical stage of their development and ensure that they can make the most of their education, and indeed, life.  

My other half Ardean has run more than a dozen marathons and ultra-marathons, and has bravely taken on the tough role of being my coach (cajoling, persuading and occasionally bribing) to help me complete my first - and possibly last - marathon, in the beautiful city of Rome in April.

Ardean is also running the 100km South Coast Challenge in August, also in aid of I CAN.

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you!

Gabbi, Ardean & Arthur x