On 19–20 September I'm taking part in Sam's Scootathon 2026 - a 55-mile, two-day kick-scoot from Birmingham to Derby in aid of Sam's Superheroes Foundation. Day one is the big one: around 40 miles and roughly ten hours on the scooter, before a shorter 15-mile push into Derby on day two. Two days of single-leg squats, essentially.

I'm doing this for Sam. In March 2021, just weeks after his fifth birthday, he developed a fever and, just seven weeks later, sadly died from FIRES (Febrile Infection-Related Epilepsy Syndrome) - a rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy that can take a healthy person, child or adult, from well to critically ill within days. He would have turned 10 this year.

His mum, Rachel, set up Sam's Superheroes Foundation in his memory to fund research, raise awareness, and support families living with FIRES.

Sam's Superheroes also provides animal-assisted therapy, in which Sam's beautiful dog, Daisy, has been part of Elsie's ongoing journey to manage her phobia of dogs.

Please sponsor me for whatever you can spare - for Sam, for the families facing this right now and the families this is coming to.