Hello, my name is Will Cottrell.

JOB DONE!!!!!

Update: Sunday 8th June

Sunday was a lovely day, sunny, mild and a great day for a bike ride. I started from Glastonbury at about 9.45, aiming to beat the time Lance did for the marathon. What a great ride!!!! My Dad was with me and there were lots of people already on the road. This made for fun riding as we could just aim to keep catching "the next one" and so went very fast. My total time for the ride was 1hour 48 min 17 sec. This was much faster than I expected and brilliant fun.

Thanks to all of my sponsors.

UPDATE: 10 May 2008. People have been so generous that my Dad has raised the target to £300! Thanks very much

I am 11 years old and in year 6. I am doing the 27 mile Hearts First Bike Ride on the Somerset Levels to raise money for the UK PKD Charity. My hero, Lance Armstrong, recently ran the New York Marathon, that's 26.2 miles, in 2:46:43, I plan to finish the ride faster than that, I will be at a slight advantage on a bike!

I know quite a lot about Polycystic Kidney Disease as my Nana has it and is on dialysis and my Dad has it too. 

Polycystic Kidney Disease is the most common life threatening genetic disease, it affects an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin. In fact PKD affects more people than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, Downs syndrome and sickle cell anemia — combined. The chances of having it are about 1-800 in the general population but if you have it the chances of passing it on to your children is 1-2.

Polycystic means multiple cysts so PKD is lots of cysts on each kidney. These cysts grow and multiply, slowly causing the mass of the kidney to increase. Ultimately the diseased kidney shuts down causing end-stage renal disease for which dialysis and transplantation are the only forms of treatment. A normal kidney is the size of a human fist. However, with the presence of PKD, cysts develop in both kidneys. There may be just a few cysts or many and the cysts may range in size from a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit. When many cysts develop the kidneys can grow to be the size of a football or larger and weigh as much as 15kgs each.

PKD is incurable so end stage renal failure is the only likely outcome. The treatment for end stage renal failure is limited to severe interventions like transplantation or dialysis. The only way to deal with PKD at present is to stay fit, control your blood pressure, manage the pain and lead a normal life. If you have it the clock is ticking...........

Significant research is underway all around the world. In the UK the PKD charity has recently been formed to raise awareness of the condition while in the US the excellent PKD foundation has been working for nearly 25 years on the issues of awareness and research.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: PKD Charity will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online.

Will Cottrell