Update on the story: It turned out to be 112 miles, but we did it!
Paul did it easily, Ben did it doggedly, Caroline did it with great difficulty, but we all arrived, more or less in one piece, after twelve and a half hours' solid cycling. We had 3 punctures, lost our way in two city centres (Colchester and Chelmsford), crossed the A1 with difficulty and the M25 with ease, and finally arrived at Chalfont to a hearwarmingly enthusiastic welcome!
THANK YOU to all our kind sponsors.
OK -this is a story in pictures.
PAUL - that's the arm-wrestler in the photo - is the cousin of Emma. He is about 8 foot tall and runs marathons. Occasionally he supports an unmentionable football team :o)
CAROLINE - thats the cheery, scruffy older one - is the mother of Emma. She is slightly less tall than Paul (but practically 5 foot 4). She'd rather stick pins in her eyes than run a single marathon.
BEN - in the topper - is the brother of Emma. He is getting taller by the day and would rather play squash than run at all.
EMMA is the one arm-wrestling Paul. She loves to run.
Emma is 17. She is intelligent. She is funny. She is friendly. She is damn cheeky. As well as running, she is good at swimming, and cycling and gardening and baking and Sudoku.. but unfortunately she tells terrible jokes. She thinks she can arm-wrestle better than Paul. (Paul disagrees.)
Emma's life has been overshadowed for the last ten years by intractable and dangerous epilepsy. It has spoiled her education, interfered with her social life, consigned her for weeks on end to hospital, stopped her ever being on her own, and every single day prevents her from doing the things all other people of her age take for granted. She's brave, and she takes life lightly and laughingly, but it is hard always seeing your friends do things while you stand and watch from the side.
Luckily Emma has been referred to the NSE's Sir William Gowers Assessment Centre - renowned for its treatment of epilepsy. The centre offers in-depth inpatient assessment and assistance for people with uncontrolled epilepsy and related needs. If there is any place that can help Emma it is here!
To celebrate, PAUL, CAROLINE and BEN (assisted by highly qualified dogsbody BARRIE) are cycling over to visit Emma in hospital on 5th September. Its 100 - 120 miles from her home in Suffolk to Chalfont, depending on the route, and they'll have to start very early in the morning in order to get to Chalfont before the end of visiting hours (!) .
If you sponsor us, the money will go to help other people like Emma. It will also help the NSE fund the medical research they do to improve the futures of people with epilepsy.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure.. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we can raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So - please - dig deep and donate now.
