A little under a nine months ago one of my best friends, John Woodman suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma brain tumour, a highly aggressive brain cancer with a poor prognosis. In a terrible coincidence another mutual friend got the same diagnosis within a couple of weeks. John has been operated on successfully and is well into his course of subsequent treatment. Despite the obvious traumas John's diagnosis has brought for him and his family, he meets every day with an energy, optimism and generosity of spirit that I'm in awe of.

Part of John's energy is aimed at doing some good for other sufferers of this terrible form of cancer. His goal is to raise a significant amount of money for the Brain Tumour Charity, who work to help people with brain tumours live longer and better lives. That is what I particularly want for John but also everyone else who is unlucky enough to receive such a devastating diagnosis.

As part of supporting John, I and ten others have agreed to join him in attempting the Everest in the Alps challenge. This is a gruelling four days designed for much younger people, repeatedly skinning up a mountain and then skiing down until we've climbed the equivalent vertical height of Everest - 8,848m!

I've started the deeply unpleasant task of beasting myself into some form of general fitness and have a brand new left knee joint to help me. But going up won't be my only problem - I've got to learn to ski again having been snowboarding for last 20 years because of the old dodgy knee.

This will be a significant challenge for me, but nothing compared to what John has had to face. I hope you will help me support John and this great charity in whatever way you can, but please be as generous as possible.

Thank you very much.

Tim