Thank you so much for visiting my fundraising page.
I'd like to start by asking you to bear with me, I am new to this. The last time I went out fundraising was at the age of 11 for my prep school sponsored 4 mile walk.
I know it can be tough to decide which of the many fundraising requests we get each year to support, particularly with so many worthy causes and extraordinary activities taking place. It is hard to know how I can compete with people crossing the Atlantic on a surfboard or hopping around the world on one leg. The best I can do is tell you about my Cause and Activity.
The Activity:
A 4 day cycle starting at Hyde Park Corner Wellington Arch in London and ending at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The route will cover 270 miles and includes a back breaking 90 mile cycle on the first day which covers 6 Category 5 climbs (I don’t know exactly what this means but I am told it is bad!). I will be cycling with a group of my friends and colleagues from Triple Point all of whom, unlike me, do not get a stitch when they run for a bus, nor break into a sweat after walking up 3 flights of stairs. For those of you who know me well, you’ll appreciate this bike ride is no walk in the park for me (unlike my previous sponsored walk feats).
The Cause:
Last September the Managing Partner of Triple Point, David Dick, died from a cancer called Ewings Sarcoma. I counted David as a colleague, a mentor, a friend and an inspiration, and the 3 short years that I knew him have had an incredible impact on my life. I have pasted below a short tribute written about David at the time of his death. It hopefully conveys, much better than I ever could, what a wonderful man he was and what a tremendous loss we all experienced when he died.
“Back in December when David told us he had cancer again he also told us he was indestructible.
And he is.
He has designed, built, led, inspired and – in the early days – been Triple Point. He promised that together we would make something to be proud of and have fun while we did it. And he delivered on his promises.
He was clever, a brilliant product designer, charming, caring, always late, a truly creative businessman, an erratically talented sportsman, an inveterate wordsmith, an inspired writer, the best public speaker (really the best), a memorably generous host, funny, funny, funny, repetitive, spontaneous, a brilliant strategist, selfless with his time for colleagues, clients and business (sorry Alex) and.....always late.
And now he has gone too early.
But he is still here in Triple Point in the business he has created and in what we have learnt from him and in our hearts.
Indestructible.”
The purpose of the cycle ride is to raise money for a 2 cancer charities.
The first is the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity which was the hospital at which David was treated, and was also the charity benefitting from the collection at David’s memorial service. Specifically, we will be raising money for Sarcoma Fund 475. This is a fund within the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign with a specific focus on sarcomas, the type of cancer that David had. Sarcomas afflict people of all ages including many young people - David was only 23 when first diagnosed. Fund 475 is overseen by Professor Ian Judson, who looked after David with enormous dedication and compassion over his last year. The pharmaceutical industry is reluctant to invest in rare diseases hence the importance of independent sources of funding. Fund 475 supports a team who carry out clinical research and drug trials - their target being to find new and better ways to successfully treat sarcomas.
The second charity is the James Whale Fund. Their volunteers will be the ones who actually organise the event for us. They focus very much on the support side, specialising in helping kidney cancer patients and their families by; ‘helping to reduce the incidence of kidney cancer by increasing knowledge and awareness, and by supporting research into the causes, prevention and treatment of the disease. Providing a support network offering advice, information and encouragement to those who’ve been diagnosed with kidney cancer and their carers’. Because they don’t have huge resources they spend their money efficiently making sure that it makes the biggest difference on the ground, immediately.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, for your kind support, and for any form of sponsorship you feel able to give.
Many many thanks,
Ben
