I’ve decided to get off the sofa and drag my rickety body 500km in 4 days from London to Paris on 2 wheels in aid of Myeloma UK.  Please help me to get there!!

So you’ve never heard of myeloma, right?  If you have, you probably don’t know anything about it.  To save you searching the t’internet, here’s some background.....

Myeloma is a complex type of bone marrow cancer with no known cure. It typically affects over 65’s but has been diagnosed in people as young as 20 and can have a devastating effect on patient’s lives.  Its also relapsing and remitting which means many patients are in desperate need of the next treatment.  At any one time there are 17,500 people living with myeloma in the UK. 

Symptoms & complications include:

Pain: mainly from myeloma bone disease.  The middle or lower back, rib cage and hips are the areas most likely to be affected.  This can lead to fracture.

Fatigue: persistent, overwhelming tiredness.  Total exhaustion! This can be due to the myeloma itself, to a complication such as anaemia or it may occur as a side effect of treatment. 

Recurring infection: infections are common in myeloma patients because the myeloma and its treatments interfere with the immune system.

Kidney damage: as a result of the myeloma, some of its complications or by some of the drugs used to treat myeloma. 

Peripheral neuropathy:  again due to the myeloma or its treatments, myeloma patients can experience damage to the nerves that make up the peripheral nervous system.

Please help me to raise some cash for Myeloma UK, to help them accelerate the discovery and development of effective treatments, and ultimately, to find a cure for myeloma. 

To find out more about the ride and to watch videos from the 2018 ride visit: www.myeloma.org.uk/ride or follow #hopeonabike on social media.