As many of you will know, back in 2015 Milo was diagnosed with Crohn’s, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He’s doing well and is currently in remission but it could reoccur at any time.

Last year, his elder sister, Poppy, was diagnosed with Colitis, a similar IBD that affects another part of the bowel but is equally distressing. Despite endless trips to, and stays in, hospitals, samples, blood tests, steroids, pills, and all manner of nasty things I won’t mention, both Poppy and Milo have been unbelievably upbeat and positive throughout. While I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what they have been through, in many ways both have so far been relatively lucky. There are many others who have not been so lucky.

There are an estimated half a million people with this life long disease in the UK alone. Many suffer in silence because of the stigma and misunderstanding surrounding these diseases. Crohn’s and Colitis UK do an amazing job of not only giving people hope, comfort and confidence to live freer, fuller lives but also to improve diagnosis and treatment and fund research into a cure.

So on October 7th, Milo and I will attempt to play Padel continuously for 18 hours; from 6am until midnight against a variety of opponents to raise as much money as we can for Crohn’s and Colitis UK. Please give as generously as possible to this amazing cause and give us the boost we need to complete the challenge.

For anyone questioning the size of the task ahead of us, next time you play a game of Padel or tennis for an hour or two, consider carrying on for a further 16 or 17 hours… this will not be fun but neither is Crohn’s or Colitis and our challenge will be over by midnight. Please dig deep.