Jamie Menzies
One man, Two wheels, Three countries, and An Amazing Cause
Fundraising for Royal Papworth Hospital Charity
Story
Background
In November 2010 my Dad was diagnosed with Pleural Mesothelioma, which is a rare and particularly vicious incurable form of cancer that affects the lungs; Asbestos exposure is the cause of 90% of cases (my Dad’s included).
To find out more information about Mesothelioma visit:
Over Christmas 2010 he went in to Papworth Hospital for an operation that was hopefully going to ease some of the symptoms of his condition; he ended up staying in for over a month. So far it has worked to prevent fluid continuing to fill his lungs.
If you have been effected by Mesothelioma or know of anyone that has been, Papworth Hospital run a support group.
www.papworthhospital.nhs.uk/mesosupportgroup
In return for the great care that Papworth Hospital have and continue to give my Dad, I plan to cycle 100 metres for every inpatient they treat over the course of an average year to raise money and awareness for the Papworth Hospital Charity, so that they may continue their amazing work. While this initially may not sound that difficult, when you consider that they receive 22400 inpatients annually, this equates to cycling 2240km (1391.8 miles). Every penny raised for the charity will go towards their Mesothelioma fund, being used to research new techniques to tackle Mesothelioma.
To find out more about Papworth Hospital please visit:
http://www.papworthhospital.nhs.uk/
And to find out how the Papworth Hospital Charity helps towards the success of the hospital, visit:
http://www.papworthhospitalcharity.org.uk/
Papworth Hospital opened its doors in 1918, and is a Heart and Lung specialist; It was the location of the UK’s first successful heart transplant in 1979. It is regarded as one of the best performing hospitals in the UK, and has long and established reputation for innovation and leading edge research.
The Bike Ride
My route will take me from Papworth Hospital (Cambridgeshire) through London, to Dover. From Dover I will be catching a ferry to Dunkirk, and then from there I will be heading through France to Geneva, Switzerland. Once I have arrived at Geneva I will take a quick dip in the lake to wash off some of the accumulated grime before circling back through France and England, finishing up at Papworth Hospital again. I will be doing the entire trip solo and camping every night whilst in France and Switzerland; let’s hope for some dry weather!
I started the bike tour at Papworth Hospital on the 8th June with the aim to be back within 23 days, which works out as a daily average of just over 97km, 60.52miles. After 4 days and covering a distance of 325 miles (an average of 81.5 miles a day) I developed a very painful right knee. In the following 3 days I only managed to cover 60 very very painful miles. After seeking medical advise in Reims it became apparent that the only way my knee would get better was to rest it for a long period of time, this called an end to tour. Once I made it home I visited the doctor and have now found out I have Tendonitis. My plan is to rest up untill the tendon has healed, then in September (after yet more training...) I will carry on the tour starting where I left off. I still have to cover just under 1000 miles. To see photos and to read about this first attempt please visit
http://jamiesadventures.weebly.com/one-man-two-wheels-three-countries-and-an-amazing-cause-2011.html
Thank you very much for reading all of this, it means a lot to me and my family.
Please consider supporting my challenge and donate to Papworth Hospital Charity, even if it is just £1 (I promise this amount is entirely acceptable and really appreciated!), it all adds up and can dramatically change someone’s life for the better!
To all your bikers out there, the lovely people at Biketart are helping me out with my charity bike tour. Visit www.biketart.com for all your bike needs, if you enter 'cycle4papworth', they will donate 5% of the cost of your purchase to my Papworth fund. So spread the knowledge to any bikers out there :D That way you can donate without even losing out!
To keep up to date with how things are going (training, planning, etc) & to get in touch with me visit;