Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
We are a group of people all from different walks of life. A lot of us don’t even know who each other are. We all live in different parts of the country and most of our paths have never crossed before. However, every member taking part in this event has one thing in common. We are all lucky enough to be able to say we are friends with Jimmy Higham.
Whether we know him from his hometown in Aspull, Wigan, his school days at both Standish and Rossall, through his three years at Durham University, from his time at Wellington College or through the numerous rugby teams he has played for, we all know the same Jimmy Higham - an honest, down to earth, fun loving friend who has shown great strength and courage which has been an inspiration to us all.
In November last year, just after his 25 birthday, and after soldiering with a ‘bad back’ for a number of months Jimmy was diagnosed with cancer. A 9cm diameter germ cell tumour, related to testicular cancer, had developed between his kidneys and he had secondary tumours in his lungs and liver. After 6 courses of chemotherapy, which had been partially successful, he was transferred to the Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey where he underwent 4 further courses of chemo followed by 3 courses of a high dose of chemotherapy in an attempt to shrink and kill the remaining tumours. Unfortunately, last week we all received the call we didn’t want to ever have to receive. Jimmy’s final treatment had been unsuccessful and he had been told there was little more the doctors could do for him.
We have set up this event to show him and his family how much he means to us and let him know that we are behind him, in addition to raising money for a cause close to all our hearts. During the week of the 22 – 30 October a large number of friends of Jimmy’s, from all walks of his life are going to come together and map ‘Jimmys Journey’ by cycling the 485 miles from his home in Aspull, to his base in Wellington college via Standish, Rossall and Durham. Contending with a wide range of cycling abilities from the absolute pros, to the self confessed stabiliser users, we will work as a team to tick off mile by mile across 7 days until we reach our destination. The cycle is in aid of Everyman Cancer Research Charity, which carries out work to treat and cure male related cancers. Its research facility, the only one focused on cancer in Europe, is based at the Royal Marsden where Jimmy has been treated, and this team created a lot of the drugs regimes that were used during his treatment.
I hope you will feel able to support what we are trying to achieve. If you wish to sponsor us or join in yourself please donate via our JustGiving website or get in touch with us via geebas@hotmail.com.
Thankyou
