This is not my story, it's Ollie's.

My nephew, Ollie Dodds is a cheeky, bright-spirited, humorous, wrestling-mad little boy. In many ways he is your typical three-year old; he is inquisitive, full of innocence, he loves Peppa Pig, and he is desperate to be as independent as possible.

Ollie's physical ability is impaired by a form of Cerebral Palsy known as Spastic Quadriplegia. This adversely affects the muscle tone of his core, as well as all four limbs, making the muscles too tight to function as they should (to allow sitting, standing, crawling and walking, etc.)

In April, Ollie will undergo spinal surgery (called Selective Dorsal-Rhizotomy, or SDR) in America, as family, friends - and even total strangers - have generously donated and fundraised the enormous cost of this specialised operation. SDR will vastly improve Ollie's general discomfort and symptoms of spasticity, and with lots of intensive - and very costly - physiotherapy, will provide him with the best possible chance of being able to walk.

This is where Alice and I step in (or should that be 'run' in?) because on Saturday 30th May, we will be taking part in The Great Midland Fun Run to raise further funds for Operation Ollie. Anyone who kindly wishes to sponsor One (wo)Man and His (her) Dog, will be supporting Ollie's post-operative physiotherapy regime.

I have an intense dislike for running - the same cannot be said about Alice - so the 8.5 mile run will be a physical and psychological challenge for me. However, Alice and I are blessed with six fully-functional legs between us and we'd like to use them to help Ollie use his!

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