We were all delighted when 13 year old Luke from Warwickshire jumped at the chance to represent Children Today at the Morgan Foundation’s spectacular and very successful fundraising event that was held at Carden Park Hotel, in Cheshire, on Friday, 25th May 2012.

Luke is a wonderful young man: bright, intelligent, very quick-witted and, in his own words “ H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S”. His smile is absolutely infectious and he never fails to touch and inspire everyone who meets him. We’re all very fond of Luke. He is a perfect ambassador for Children Today and is, so obviously, a real credit to his family.

Some of you may remember seeing photographs of Luke from previous articles we’ve published.

Luke has Cerebral Palsy. We first encountered Luke and his family when they needed help to provide him with the sit-to-stand wheelchair that was so vital to his on-going development. Just four weeks after his application form was received, it was considered by our Grants’ Panel and our maximum grant of £1,000 was awarded on 12th December 2007.

Luke’s mum, Emma, had also applied to other charities including The Variety Club and Caudwell Children but our initial grant gave her the platform to build the rest of the funding and made it possible for her to reach the target amount and order the chair. Delivery of the powered wheelchair was confirmed on 16th June 2008 and our contribution of £1,000 was paid on 24th June 2008. Luke had especially requested it to be painted in Leicester City Blue as he’s a big football fan!

Since then, Luke has gone from strength to strength.

In 2009, Luke decided he wanted to do some fundraising for us to help other children now that he could do things for himself. He took part in the Mercia Mile Fun Run on the day of the Coventry Half Marathon. Not content with doing it himself he made sure that his mother, sister and Emma from Children Today joined him on the run and Luke himself raised £500 in sponsorship which was a fantastic achievement. He also persuaded his uncle, Ian, to raise sponsorship for Children Today when he ran the BUPA Great Manchester Run in 2010.

Luke and his family have also joined Children Today on a number of other occasions, attending events and helping to promote the charity’s work, including being interviewed on local BBC radio and meeting Suzanne Virdee of BBC Midlands Today.

Luke’s latest role as Ambassador for Children Today at Carden Park could, quite possibly, be his most memorable to date.