A Kenilworth author is set to run the 2022 London Marathon to raise money for Parkinson's UK in the memory of his late father.

Tom Perrin, who recently announced the publication of his latest children's book, The Treeple, will be completing his first marathon this October.

Tom entered in February on the day that his father, also Thomas, passed away, before finding out he had a place on the day of the funeral.

"I sent an application in on the day that my dad passed away – it wasn't a fully spontaneous thing but I just thought 'why not, let's do it'," he said, wanting to do something to honour his dad.

"And then we were driving back from the funeral and I had a missed call and it turned out they were calling me to say I had a place.

"It was literally in the car on the way back so it was almost like it was meant to be.

"I think it was a nice thing. Obviously we were coming back from the funeral so to have that good news and to know that I was able to do something in his memory."

Thomas senior passed away in February 2022 having suffered with Parkinson's for 15 years

Thomas senior had suffered with Parkinson's for 15 years before he passed away.

And having seen what the disease had done to his father and his family, Tom said he wants to raise as much as he can to help the charity.

"He passed away in February having had Parkinson's for nearly 15 years of his life, half of my life. It is a charity that we know well and it is a charity that has done a lot for us, that has been there throughout his struggle" he said.

"I wanted to do something to help the charity and saw that they had charity places for London.

"I think it was debilitating just to watch the disease rob my dad of his pride and his ability to be as mobile as he wanted to be.

"It was a big struggle because my dad was very proud of being the provider for the family, us relying on him and then the dynamics switched and he was relying on us all of a sudden – I think that is what Parkinson's does, it robs you of a lot of stuff.

"My Dad was always very sporty, outgoing, positive and worked as much as he could to support us. That stopped when Parkinson's really began to take hold of him. He fought it bravely but it became too much towards the end."

Whilst London will be his first Marathon, Tom is an experienced runner and has done a few half marathons already.

"I started running properly three or four years ago when I met my partner who is a competitive runner and it has been a gradual process to get up to this distance and level of fitness," he added.

"I have done probably five or six half marathons so a full marathon is a next logical step.

"I am really looking forward to it, but ask me again in three month's time and we will see if I am still enjoying it and I might give you a different answer."

Tom's wife, Jess, has already run marathons herself and will be helping him with the training

He and his partner, Jess, also have a running buggy that they can take their son Lennon out in during training.

But Tom said he probably wouldn't be taking it out over the longer distances.

And having only started his fundraising earlier this month he has already been blown away by the support.

He said: "I am planning to do some sort of auction closer to the time as my main fundraising plan.

"But I have had a really really amazing response to the start of fundraising so I am already 40 per cent on the way to the target so that has been great over the last month."

If you'd like to donate, please follow this link to his fundraising page.