Carly and I have a beautiful daughter called Niamh who is now 11 years old. Niamh has a genetic condition called Tuberous Sclerosis and as a result suffers from many complex and challenging behaviours. She has a mental age of 18 months. Niamh needs 24 hour care and cannot do any of the things we all take for granted. Things like dressing herself, toileting, eating and talking. Niamh has little understanding of the world around her and as such gets frustrated and frequently exhibits self injurious behaviour. She hits herself with such ferocity that she will often draw blood through the cuts she has made. This is very distressing and difficult to deal with as a parent.

However, in our darkest days as a family we turned to The Spring Centre, not only did they provide respite care for Niamh when my wife needed the rest but they were also willing to allow parents to share time together and discuss each other's experiences. The understanding that you are not the only one in a difficult situation is invaluable and has helped us survive as a family, a family that also includes Niamh's younger brother Finlay who is 9.

I have now come to realise that the help The Spring Centre has provided us, and numerous other families like us in the Gloucestershire area, has helped individuals to function as family members, parents and simply people who go to work to earn a living.

The support that The Spring Centre has given me and my family has allowed me to make the best of my family life and career, I now want to give something back to this very worthy cause.