Dear friends

After running the Dubai and London Marathons in 2012, I am now planning to run the Dubai Marathon hoping I can raise more money for the Snowflake School, and help them get closer to their aim of expanding their school.

The founder of this school is a very close friend of mine, and also the mother of a boy with autism. I have tried to support her both  emotionally and financially as much as I could for the past few years and watched her open this amazing school to provide a better future for children with autism and a lot of hope for many parents like herself.

With a licence for 15 pupils aged between 5 and 14 years of age, the school is nearing its full capacity! I visited the school in June and saw a lovely environment with happy children working with their tutors and communicating with words or sign language. I was so impressed to see what the hard work and dedication of one team, alongside the support of others can create! But the success of this school is only the beginning! These children are growing up fast, and in just over a year's time, the eldest three pupils will reach the age of 14 and will have to leave the school. It is for that reason that my friend is  determined to open another school for children aged 14 to 19.

I would love nothing more than to be able to give her a massive financial boost in achieving this goal! These children have to build on what they have learnt, as otherwise they will probably lose all they have achieved in the past few years, and most likely regress into their previous behaviour. I had considered many different avenues to help, and opted for the one where I think the largest amount of us can get involved!

I ask you, family and friends, to help me on this mission. I am doing my best and putting a lot of hard work and sweat in to this training to be able to realise this dream. I hope you can all give me a helping hand in cheering me on at this marathon, and donating to this amazing cause - and help get Snowflake 2 off the ground.

You all know me, I am a hard worker and I give every project everything I have; and it's not going to be any different this time round! So please help me raise as much money as we possibly can for this project, and make this second school as much of a success as the first one is!

Amir