Story
<p>At the end of March 2007, my stepfather was diagnosed with a grade 4 <a title="Glioblastoma multiforme" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glioblastoma_multiforme">glioblastoma multiforme</a> and given months to live. He actually survived almost a year, thanks in part to the role <a title="St Ann's Hospice" href="http://www.sah.org.uk">St Ann's Hospice</a> in Manchester played in his treatment.<br><br>The staff at St Ann's provide end-of-life care for around 3000 terminally ill people every year, completely free, but they have to find <strong>£16,000 every day</strong> on top of the state funding they get to keep the place open.<br><br>One of the things my dad always wanted to do was the Brighton Friday Night Ride to the Coast, but he never got the chance to do it.</p>
<p>Late last year, I discovered that the first ride of 2012 coincided with the fourth anniversary of his funeral. So I decided to do it.<br><br>I'd never done anything like it before in terms of length or hills (I'm looking at you, <a title="Ditchling Beacon, Sussex" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditchling_Beacon">Ditchling Beacon</a>) - but I was determined to do it, in his name, and I did! It took about six hours in the end, including a middle of the night tea stop for cake and sandwiches near Gatwick Airport, and I arrived shattered but jubilant just in time for breakfast, four years after I said goodbye for the last time.<br><br>And I got to make the lives of patients St Ann's Hospice a little bit better doing it. Please continue to donate now, even though I've hit my target - every little bit helps.<br><br><em><strong>RIP Michael Brundish Sutton, 1951-2008.</strong></em></p>