I will be participating in the 36th Marathon des Sables - a gruelling 250km ultramarathon over 7 days in southern Morocco, in the Saharan desert, from 25th March to 4th April 2022. It has been regarded as the toughest footrace on earth. 

My son Rupert was born in July 2021. As a new mother I wanted to align the challenge of the MDS with a charity which supports children. This will also provide extra motivation for me to carry on when times get tough after hours in the desert! In particular I've been moved to tears by the recent footage from Ukraine. Explosions and street fighting are forcing children and their families into freezing basements and bomb shelters, some without power or heating. Parents are trying to calm terrified children as they flee from their homes. Meanwhile six months since the upsurge in violence in Afghanistan, the situation for children is desperate with many living in camps and a lack of access to vital healthcare and education.

Save the Children exists to help every child reach their full potential. In the UK and around the world, it makes sure children stay safe, healthy and keep learning, so they can become who they want to be. All over the world, children's lives are at risk as conflicts persist. Save the Children's Emergency Fund allows it to respond wherever and whenever its needed most, to deliver lifesaving aid to vulnerable children and their families. It supports children growing up in conflict and in humanitarian crises in places such as Ukraine, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan:

• Working in neighbouring countries to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees
• Distributing essential supplies and winter kits of clothing and blankets as temperatures plunge below freezing
  
• Providing access to safe, inclusive, quality education
  
• Offering vital mental health and psychosocial support to children and their families in the face of unimaginable adversity
• Providing cash and vouchers assistance to families to meet basic needs like food, rent and medicines