A year ago, on a weekend break miles from home, our youngest son, Cyrus, was born three months premature. He suffered a number of serious complications in the months which followed and has a vast distance to travel before he can hope for things which other children of his age are able to take for granted: sitting, rolling, first steps, and so on.

When he left hospital after a stay of several months we as his parents were left largely on our own. We had the guilt of knowing that the first two years were critical to his development, that this would be largely down to us through home-administered physiotherapy, and that the clock was ticking; but we were also exhausted and grieving for the life we had hoped Cyrus would enjoy, and the NHS was over-loaded and only able to offer batches of once-a-week physiotherapy with long gaps between sets of sessions. There seemed to be nowhere to turn: it was the most desolate experience of our lives.

Then we were introduced to Dame Vera Lynn's Children's Charity. They have transformed all of our lives: several times a week Cyrus benefits from a mixture of physiotherapy, conductive education, hydrotherapy, music therapy and home play. DVLCC has transformed the care and help which Cyrus receives, they have also helped Sumi and I care for him so much better in all the time they are not there. Everybody we meet is unfailingly positive and driven to do the best for the children - you never feel that you are a problem being managed, only ever that you are surrounded by a community of care and love. I know that the other families at DVLCC feel likewise.

Cyrus is also one of the happiest souls I have ever come across. He endures a life of discomfort, frustration and repetitive treatments with a joy which has been a lesson to us. I feel that DVLCC may well prove to be the difference in the end between a life which allows him to shine that light in the world and one which would have kept him locked up within himself. They are that good, and what they do is that impactful.

Looking at the athletic feats of many people on this platform, I concede that this walk is not much of a distance. Perhaps, though, that is the story: we are stretched as a family to the point where there is simply no time to train for anything else, and it is only through DVLCC that we manage at all.

Nothing my wife and I are able to do will adequately express our gratitude to DVLCC or the people who work there. They are brilliant and talented people doing a difficult job for the children of families themselves burnt-out with worry and pain who have nowhere else to turn. Please support them if you can.