I’ll be honest, it’s not easy asking for money every year. People have been so generous helping me to raise nearly £30,000 over the past two years. I didn’t want to ask again. I had no plans to ask again. But as time marches on, so does Austin's illness and as a couple of events get closer that I plan to ride this summer, I feel it would be wrong not to put myself out there to try to raise a little money towards the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). 

Austin has a fatal genetic disease. He’s just a normal little boy and he does not know this yet. Duchenne is a cruel disease mainly affecting boys. Typically muscles will deteriorate, until the need for a wheelchair in early teens and with a life expectancy into only the early twenties.  

But there is a fight happening and its happening right now. Thanks to the money we have raised and many others doing the same, there is funding for new drugs and clinical trials. Austin has been fortunate to get onto a trial at Great Ormond Street Hospital and it is through funding such as this that keeps these trials going. So this is a case where every £1 is literally funding potentially life saving treatment and in this case, its the life of my son. Words cannot really describe what that means to us. 

So as I say, asking again for money is not something I do easily. But its something as Austin's dad I really have to do. And I guess I better mention my latest challenges. Its no lie that over the years I have become increasingly passionate about cycling, but equally each year I like to push the envelope that little bit further. This year I will be riding the HotChillee Dolomites event at the end of June which will involve 350km/10,000m ascent over 3 days. And if that's not enough, at the end of July I will be racing my bike from London to Paris, 500km again over 3 days. 

And so if you've read this far you are probably somebody who cares and you are potentially about to make a donation, maybe for the third time. So the BIGGEST thank you from myself and my family for helping us all to work together to beat this awful disease.