Four years ago, my wife and I found out that she was pregnant. We were over the moon, and completely failed to not get too excited. Within days, we'd started our list of names, planned our shared leave and even started buying nursery furniture.

Then, we got the phone call that nobody wants. Our unborn child was likely to have a chromosome abnormality called Edwards Syndrome. They were unlikely to make it to birth, and even if they did, there was a 9 in 10 chance they wouldn't make it to their first birthday.

We were crushed, grieving our unborn child.

We had to wait a couple of days, which turned into a couple of weeks, for confirmation test results but started to plan for the worst. Our child, even if they were born, would probably be born premature, might never leave hospital and would be in and out of surgery with organ issues.

Then everything changed, again. Another phone call, this time with diagnostic results that confirmed that our little one was healthy and in the clear after what was actually a false positive.

We were delighted, and have loved watching our little Atticus (and now Rupert too) come into the world, take their first steps, and grow into happy, healthy children.

But many families aren’t as lucky.

Each year in the UK, around 55,000 babies are born prematurely, and sadly, 1,000 will lose their lives. A further 30% of children with a rare disease will lose their lives before their fifth birthday.

This September, I’ll be joining colleagues in cycling from London to Paris, some 250 miles across three long days in the saddle, raising money for Action Medical Research.

Action is an amazing organisation that funds medical research to help sick and disabled babies, children and young people. For over 70 years, they’ve helped to save the lives of thousands of children, from helping to beat polio and fighting meningitis, to preventing still births and developing ultrasound scanning for pregnancies.

We’re raising money for Action so that they can keep their work going for another 70 years, and to help save the lives of thousands more little boys and girls.

I’d be very grateful for any donations and thank you for your support.