After four rounds of knee surgery, I’ve never been a runner, but here I am at the age of 43 doing my first half marathon, having been inspired to lace up my trainers for a very good cause – raising money for the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Trust.

For anyone who doesn’t know, my son Euan was born with a rare metabolic condition called galactosaemia. He spent several weeks in the critical care wards at King’s College Hospital after birth, but since then he has been supported by the Evelina. Various teams have been looking after him, from the Opthamology Department, monitoring the impact of his condition on his eyes, the in-patient wards, allergy clinics, speech and language therapy, but mostly Dr Vara and the Inherited Metabolic Diseases Team who will monitor his progress until he is 18.

The care and support that Euan has received from all of these teams has been first class; and as anyone who has seen him recently would say, he is doing incredibly well. So far (touch wood) he is the polar opposite of how the consultants at the Evelina would expect a galactosaemia sufferer to be – he is outgoing, doesn’t stop talking, has good hand-eye coordination and is as bright as could be expected, considering who his parents are. However, whenever we have had to visit the wards at the Evelina, we have seen so many children who have not been so fortunate and are in a very, very difficult place. So, I am taking on this challenge to say thank you to everyone at the Evelina and raise money not only for Euan’s benefit but for the thousands of children who go through the hospital’s doors every year. I would really appreciate it if you could spare a few pounds to help me reach my target and give me the energy boost to get round the 21km course and hope my knees make it to the end. Thank you.