As most of you will know, my son Jaiden who turned 3 in August; has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy at the most severe level on the GMFCS (gross motor function classification system) and is registered as blind. He does not yet have any independence, is non-mobile and non-verbal, and he requires around the clock care.

I was meant to be swimming the Thames Marathon (13km on the 11th August 2024) and then the UltraSwim33.3 (33.3km in Montenegro 4th - 7th October 2024). However due to lacerating my right hand and requiring over 15 stitches (see image in the gallery or skip if you don't fancy seeing my injury), I was physically unable to take part in the Thames Marathon and had to take a 6 week break from swimming. I am however back in the water and looking to take on the UltraSwim 33.3 with not as much training as I had originally planned or ideally would have liked.

For those of you that know, as much as I love swimming I haven't done much since the Team SRLV 6 Person relay of the English Channel back in September 2011, I also suffer with travel/sea sickness. So this will probably be the toughest challenge I have taken on to date.

However its for a good cause, I have set a fundraising target of £3,330 which equates to £0.10 for every official metre I am due to swim on the UltraSwim 33.3 event.

Just4Children are raising funds for specialist therapies and equipment to give Jaiden the best possible opportunities and to one day heal him completely.