Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Hi my name is Francis and I am taking part in the London To Paris Cycle Ride, to raise money for the amazing Alder Hey Children's Hospital. I will be cycling 311 miles over a 4 day period accompanied by my long time friend and Brother from another Mother Peter Donaldson . We will be supporting each other during this enduring challenge and we are determined to succeed and complete each and every mile with a smile on our faces. 

Our aim is to raise funds to enable the hospital to continue to provide excellent care for all the children that they treat.
Taking part in this journey is to thank all the staff for the incredible work they do on a daily basis. We recognise as a nation how hard NHS staff work and especially over the past couple of years with the world wide pandemic. 

I was inspired to undertake this challenge for my 9yr old son Francis. Francis has been supported and still is by Alder Hey. 

Francis is a beautiful blonde haired , blue eyed little boy he is the apple of our eye and who I will be thinking of and if at anytime I feel like I want to give up he will be my incentive to carry on, as nothing that I would struggle with during a cycle ride, compares to how he struggles on a daily basis just being him.

Our son Francis who is now nine, has a Neurodevelopmental Condition. He was diagnosed when he was 3 years old with Autism and is completely non verbal. He has severe learning difficulties and complex needs. Like many children diagnosed with Autism , Francis has additional comorbidity conditions which often co-occur with the primary condition such as Autism and these are both physiological and psychological. 

As well as his Autism, Francis struggles daily with his Sensory Processing difficulties, Hypermobiity, Praxis problem, verbal Dyspraxia, Auditory processing and contintenance.

Due to Francis's complex needs as above, he is cared for by a multi disciplinary team. Our journey has not always been plain sailing as alot of reasonable adjustements need to be put in place to actually get him into the hospital. So we are so appreciative of the support from all the staff at Alder Hey across the numerous different departments which he is under and the support for the Learning disability team who support families with SEN children.

From around 18 months old to present day the doctors and nurses have treated Francis with wonderful kindness and have also supported us as a family too. As he approaches his tenth birthday I'm sure this will continue for his future needs.

On a personal level I am hoping that  some of the money raised will help existing and future families who have children with Autism and other Neuro developmental conditions. As well as funding needed for the rest of the hospital , i am hoping some of the money can be used to support families post diagnosis, in regard to a counselling service. Often families like ourselves receive a diagnosis and then feel lost, unsure what is next? Where to go ? How to feel ? And i would like to see more support given to families affected by this life changing diagnosis not only for the child but the wider family.

I would appreciate any donations you can make for this wonderful hospital and cause and i pledge to give it my all for all the families who are supported by the Iconic Children's Hospital that is Alder Hey.

Many Thanks

Francis

N.B - Can i add, if you have been generous enough to donate to my page, can i ask that you do so before 30th March 2022. For the organisation and the participants to proceed with the event ,the individual (myself) needs to raise a set amount of funding.

Thankyou once again for all your support , and every penny counts no matter how big or small.

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