In late June, I will be cycling 250km over two days along the Great Ocean Road on the southern tip of Australia, clad head to toe in lycra and with plenty of tubs of Vaseline. The reason I am breaking my golden rule of "only play sports which involve a ball and have absolutely no endurance element" is in support of a cause incredibly close to my heart, the Isla Cecil Brighter Future Fund (www.islasbrighterfuture.com).

Isla was only a month older than our little girl Isabella and was the beautiful daughter of our dear friends Anna and Mike Cecil. Horrendously she was diagnosed with an incredibly rare tumour called ETANTR last October and passed away in her parents arms a month later.

At the moment there is still no cure for this type of tumour. However Isla’s oncologist at Great Ormond Street is working on setting up a research consortium to find treatments for ETANTR and other rare childhood brain tumours. For the consortium to deliver its results it will need £3 million over 5 years. Mike and Anna aim to raise £250,000 of this through the Isla Cecil Brighter Future Fund in the hope the research will prevent other parents going through what they did.

Any donations, however small, would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you so much.

James