On the 18 July 2010 I will be participating in the L’Etape du Tour, one of the most challenging cycling events of 2010 for my chosen charity – Help the Homeless.
The event involves completing 181km (c112 miles) of the most gruelling mountain stages of the 2010 Tour de France, through the French Pyrenean mountain range where one of the three peaks involves a gruelling 2150m assent over a 22k distance – so please wish me luck!
Participating in the event this year will be very special for me as just a few short months ago it didn’t seem possible as I underwent major surgery which led to a number of complications, all of which, I am pleased to say have now been overcome. The full story is below (it is not for the faint hearted –you’ve been warned!).
My training is going well and I am getting great support from family and friends, JWT Waste Services Ltd and other race sponsors, so a very big ‘thank you’ to you all in helping me raise as much money as possible for a great charity.
Sincerely,
Graham’s Amazing Story
As a young man Graham was a runner, for fitness, for fun and for charity. He competed in 10Ks, half marathons, marathons and triathlons. Constantly in training, constantly pushing himself and constantly raising money for people who needed help. However, this punishing way of life took its toll and the constant stress he was enduring eventually damaged his knees. That combined with a serious car crash in 1990 forced him to stop competing.
However, Graham is not a man to be beaten and he found an outlet for his need to push himself by means of cycling. Quickly building up his fitness, he was soon competing again and, of course, helping people again. At first he was completing relatively short sponsored events, but all the time building up the distances as he entered events all over the UK, culminating in 2008 by riding from Land’s End to John o’Groats. In 2009 Graham travelled to Sweden to enter the Vätternrundan, the largest recreational bicycle ride in the world. The 300km course follows the shoreline of beautiful Lake Vättern and was a real test for Graham and a punishing day for all the competitors, but as ever, Graham didn’t let it beat him.
However, while in recovery from the race Graham started to feel unwell and with the onset of severe neurological symptoms, it became increasingly clear that he was seriously ill. After a battery of tests it was discovered that the car crash, he had seemingly walked away from almost 20 years before, had in fact been much more serious than anyone had realised and had left him with a health time bomb. Graham was given the news that two of the discs in his neck had completely collapsed and unless immediate and very serious surgery took place he could soon expect to become paralysed from the neck down.
Naturally Graham decided to try and beat the odds, electing to undergo the dangerous surgery, and very soon after was in theatre ready to endure the gruelling procedure. Surgeons gained access to Graham’s spine through the front of his neck, working around the complex anatomy of his throat. With the ever-present risk of damaging the nerves, blood supply, voice box and oesophagus, the surgical team carved away the damaged discs which were crushing Graham’s spinal cord and replaced them with specially constructed titanium cages which were screwed in place to bridge the gaps in Graham’s spine.
Graham opened his eyes after the operation, and relieved that he had done so, systematically worked out that he had the feeling back all over his body, and what’s more, he had virtually no pain. It seemed that his extreme fitness was going to help him to a remarkable recovery. That is until he tried to call a nurse. Graham could not talk.
The nursing staff tried to reassure Graham that this side effect was not too uncommon and that his voice would probably return very quickly, in the mean time it was important that he keep hydrated. Graham took a sip of water and started to cough violently, he was drowning. After a battery of tests it seemed the nerve, which controlled the bodies system to prevent liquid and food entering the lungs, and which also diverted air through the voice box, had been damaged. Not only could Graham not talk, he couldn’t eat or drink.
While Graham’s hospital recovery continued and whilst he underwent tests to establish why he could no longer talk, he developed yet another complication, a heart flutter. Graham’s medical team tried to combat this with a treatment called Pharmacologic Cardioversion, where drugs to control his now racing heart were fed through intravenous drips into his arms. This resulted only in infection the first time, and the second, with his sixth attempted treatment only resulting in yet another infection and his heart rate rising from its usual 40bpm to 170, the decision was made to take Graham back to theatre for an Electrical Cardioversion. This treatment delivers a synchronised electrical shock to the heart via electrodes placed on the chest and back. The first shock failed to correct Graham’s runaway heart, but a second treatment eventually managed to re-establish Graham’s heart rate.
The complications of the operation had more of a debilitating effect on Graham than the surgery itself and he spent the latter half of 2009 starting a lengthy process of rehabilitation. He was learning what and how to eat and drink, realising that his breathing was so badly affected that he could no longer exercise and facing the fact that he could not talk. For a once active and gregarious man, Graham struggled with his poor health, his inability to work and could not come to terms with using an electrolarynx to mimic speech. It was a tough time for Graham and for his family and friends.
On Christmas Eve 2009 Graham took his daughter to the carol concert at his local church. Surrounded by his community, Graham mimed along while his daughter and the rest of the congregation sang festive songs, when suddenly, out of nowhere he produced a booming, as he describes it “Barry White” voice. Graham celebrated Christmas in the centre of his family by carefully drinking his first cup of coffee in nearly three months. It seems the nerves which were thought to have been cut during the operation had in fact been badly bruised and that they picked Christmas Eve to start working again.
Before long Graham’s voice returned to normal, as did his breathing, his ability to eat properly again and his spirit, and with all of those Graham returned once again to training on his bike and looking around for someone to help.
The Big 2010 Cycling Challenge
100 years ago, the Tour de France took cyclists to the high mountains for the first time. The first cyclist who climbed the Tourmalet, did so with a 12kg, single speed bike, and needless to say, he didn’t stay on his bicycle.
On the 18th of July 2010, Graham will be joined by 9500 other riders who will start from the town of Pau to climb three of the greatest peaks of the Pyrénées : col de Marie-Blanque, col du Soulor and the giant col du Tourmalet. The overall distance is 181 km (c112 miles), although far from being Graham’s longest ride, the three major climbs will be without doubt, make it Graham’s toughest event to date.
A map of the terrain can be found in the ‘photos’ section at the top left of this page, the toughest climbs are at the Col de Marie-Blanque 9,5 km at 7,5%, Col du Soulor par Ferrières 22 km at 4,9%, Col du Tourmalet par Barèges 19 km at 7,4%.
