Hi guys. Most of you will already know mine and Franck's story, as I've done a couple of fundraisers before to support him and his jiu-jitsu journey. However, we've now got one more very big fundraiser to do...

Franck is now legally my son, since I adopted him in Cameroon, but unfortunately he is currently unable to stay in the UK, as we didn't get the adoption certificate in time to apply for British Citizenship before he turned 18 in July.

We are currently working with a specialist immigration lawyer, Emma Cohen from OTB legal. She is among the top 10 immigration lawyers in the UK. We will be applying for a Leave to Remain (Family visa) for Franck under exceptional circumstances. This application will be based on Article 8 of the Human Rights Act (1998), which states that 'everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life'. Family life relationships also include those between parents and adopted children.

We are putting in an application for Legal Aid, but this may be refused. In this case we will need to immediately come up with the cash, which for the initial application will be £4358. According to the lawyer, this application is likely to be refused, but she thinks we will have a better chance on appeal, which will potentially cost another £4000.

Here is a price breakdown of the legal expenses for Franck's application:

Me and Franck will be arranging fundraising seminars across the country to help to cover these costs, so if anyone is interested in booking us, please get in touch. We are also working on an instructional video series and a fundraising shirt as part of this campaign. More info coming soon on these!

In the last 4.5 months, Franck has competed at 20 competitions across the country, winning 28 gold medals after 144 fights. He has a very bright future if we can get his paperwork sorted so that he can legally stay with me in the UK. If not, his jiu-jitsu career is over, so we're counting on you guys for help!