Thanks for taking the time to visit Simon's JustGiving page.

Simon died on January the 11th 2013 peacefully, the fight goes on.

The fight goes on....

For the whole story day by day of his motorcycle adventure go to

http://scmotorcyclediary.wordpress.com/

Three fish which start and finish with the letter 'K'

1, Killer Shark

2, Kwik Save frozen Haddock

3, Kilmarnock

(Kilmarnock is a Scottish Plaice) !!

 

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Below is an article written by one of my riding companions John Henn

 

Life, but not as it should be

 

 There are events in your life when you learn something that has a profound effect on you, and so it was on an October afternoon I was informed by a short grape vine that a good friend of mine was the latest person to become a confirmed sufferer of Motor Neuron Disease (MND). It could just as easily be me, we are both retail jewellers, with the same history working with our fathers, before taking over ourselves. We both Climb, ski, cycle and both have foreign wives who we love and both berate us about the lousy fitting windows and doors we live with but he is the one out of 500,000 people the Sporadic strain of this disease had chosen to settle in.

 

Many of you will know Simon Cupitt (42) he is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. With his wifeÅsa they run the family business in Bromsgrove, they have two lovely children. Simon is one of the few people who actually makes jewellery as well as sell it. He has created beautiful things since he started learning the skills aged 25.

 

The future is uncertain, this chap rode a civilian section of the Tour de France in August 3000 vertical meters over 8 hours in the sun of the Alps. After retuning home the usual stiff legs didn't restore at the same speed he might have expected and after a few weeks he went looking for answers. Referrals led to further appointments and eventually the diagnosis.   One of Simon’s lifetime intentions was to ride from John O’Groats to Lands End on his bike for charity. Little did we know he may be the cause which will set us off next March on the 1900 mile round trip, except perversely of benefit to me, it we will be on motor rather than push bikes.

 

Research is ongoing, isn't it always, Sixty of the world’s leading stem cell experts from 14 countries were brought together for the first time early last year in New York to shape the development of future co-operation in MND stem cell research. Currently in Canada there have been successful tests on mice where they have identified the specific gene that attacks the Neurons, The discovery of this rogue gene has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of MND but this development is still five years away from human trials.

 

 

None of us know what the future holds for us but at least not knowing allows us to continue with a normal life. There are difficult times on the horizon for Simon and his family, and for all of us to see such a tremendous contributor to our lives dealt such a card is spine chilling.

 

I’m sure Simon wants to work for as long as he feels up to it in the business, but exhausting himself or having conversations on the phone are to be avoided. Sleep is difficult and he wakes with a finite amount of energy that is all he has for the day.  There are some marvellous software products on the market that turn text into voice, and vice versa. Don’t anybody be apprehensive to contact him by email on simon@cupittjeweller.com good positive messages of support will help him with the long nights.  I think I am going to recommend a security guard for his store with a tolerance meter, any client complaining about anything trivial will be ejected down Bromsgrove high street.

 

We have put up a Just Giving site for those of you who would like to donate to the MND research foundation it can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/SimonCupitt-transUK  These are the people who put our soldiers back together again after a close shave in Afghanistan and all the other dangerous places in the world they find themselves. They are involved with everything neurological and command a great deal of respect within their arena.  

 

BMW motorbikes are to sponsor us with one of their brand new touring scooters, the C 650 GT. http://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk it is a whole new world of hand operated touring scooters that are arriving into the UK market next March. We will have one delivered early for Simon so he has some time to get used to it before the trip. He will be accompanied by three of the scooter’s disaffected cousins in the form of the R 1200 GS ridden by myself, a delightful friend of mine I never ride without, Nigel and Steve also known locally as Mr BMW who is generously supplying the bike at no charge. We propose to send the bikes to the most northerly BMW dealer in the British Isles ‘Inverness BMW’ and collect them on Thursday 22 of March, and finish on Monday the 26 with a few days up our sleeves and another volunteer or two in following vehicles bringing family along to meet us on the way - it will be a trip to remember, even more so of course if the snow stays away!

 

We will run a blog and anyone in the vicinity of our motorway free route will be welcome to get involved. This is under construction and will be published next month.

 

We have recently changed our windows, if only we could as easily change his neurons!