The Charity

STARS support people who suffer from seizures and also help educate doctors and consultants to recognize symptoms and produce a correct diagnosis.  Most of the people that suffer from Reflex Anoxic Seizures are small children and babies and it can be very distressing for parents, especially when no one can explain what is going on. 

I hope that you decide to sponsor me, I know it’s personal to me, but I believe that it is a very worthy cause and I would hate to cycle a 1000 miles for nothing .

LATEST UPDATE. 4/9/09 :Yahoo!"!!! They have done it!!!! 978 miles in 14 days. Martin Nichols, Guy Gudmunson and Christopher Nichols were sipping cocktails on Monte Carlo Beach on Friday 4th September 2009.

From Bath to Monte Carlo. They have reached their destination!!!!! What a fantastic achievement. Well done to all of you!!!

 They have cycled through 40 degree heat, climbed the highest road in Europe col de bonnet which is 2800 metres above sea level.  Battled through 100 km per hour winds and even stayed in haunted hotels!!! 

Thank you so much to everyone that has sponsered me. It is very much appreciated.

The Route

There is a picture of the route on the photos section of the page, but in summary Guy Gudmunsen and myself will be cycling from Bath, Somerset to Monte Carlo.  We will be covering nearly 1000 miles including the Alps and the highest paved road in Europe in 12 days. 

My Story

About three years ago I collapsed and had a seizure on a plane to Edinburgh.  It wasn't the first time, I had been having attacks off an on for the past 20 years, but this time it was difficult to ignore.  The plane had to be diverted to a nearby airport and taken out of service while it was investigated.  They had to make sure that the plane didn’t have a cabin pressure problem or a leak from the air conditioning system.  There were a few hundred people in the wrong airport, and flight plans had to be redrawn for the rest of the day.  Thousands of people had been impacted and lots of money spent.

When I regained consciousness properly in the hospital and I was able to tell them that the plane wasn’t faulty and that this was an unusual event for me.  In fact I had found myself in a hospital or back of an ambulance more times than I can remember (maybe 3 times that year?).  The previous time I had gained consciousness at the bottom of a flight of stairs with two paramedics strapping me to a plank and bracing my neck.  Apparently, I had collapsed mid stride and fallen down a flight of stairs landing on my neck.

I apologised for the inconvenience and discharged myself, but this time it was different.   People wanted to know what had happened.  Would it happen again?  Why was it happening? Could it happen when I was driving?  Was I safe to travel by plane, or train or even work?  The problem was I had no idea.  I had been collapsed off an on for 20 years and nobody knew why or how to stop it.  My condition had been variously diagnosed as epilepsy, a brain structure problem, strokes, asthma attacks and heart failure, but all the tests were coming back negative.  They couldn’t diagnose the problem so they couldn’t treat the problem. 

I returned to work a few days later, but the attacks were now coming days rather than months apart.  I collapsed at work a few times in a couple of weeks and my employer was worried about their liability and my health.  I was asked to go home.  I was also advised that I should contact the DVLA and expect to lose my driving license.

Then I found the STARS (Syncope Trust and Reflex anoxic Seizures) website.  It was a revelation, for the first time I found a description of what was happening to me and then talk to people who could help.  STARS put me in touch with specialist consultants and after a few simple test I was diagnosed and medicated.  I have now been free from seizures for the past three years.

So now it's pay back time.  I started cycling in the few months when I was waiting for the DVLA to review my driving license, so it seems an apt way to repay my thanks.

In August this year I will be cycling from my house near Bath, down to the Ferry at Poole in Dorset, catching the boat across to Cherbourg and then diagonally across France and the Alps to Monte Carlo.  The route will cover about 1000miles in 12 days and take me across the highest road in Europe.

Thanks

Martin