Story

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On 2 January 2010 my wife Samantha Shattock (Sam) suffered a cardiac arrest at the age of forty-one. As a result of her heart stopping for over forty minutes Sam has suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury. After time in hospital in both Peterborough and Lincoln Sam is now being cared for at The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) in Putney, SW London. Sam has been a patient at the RHN since May and is now receiving the very best in therapy, treatment and care. Despite Sam making some good progress since May she is still a long, long way from a full recovery. The realistic likelihood is that Sam will never come home. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Prior to January 2 Sam led a perfectly normal life. She worked, exercised, walked her dog and was a fantastic mum to our two teenage children. Although rare, a brain injury like Sam’s could happen to anyone, a result of a cardiac arrest, a brain haemorrhage brought on by stress or a road traffic accident. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Yellow Beetle Challenge is to complete three BIG events in three continents within a twelve month period, and hopefully reach my fundraising target of raising £30,000 for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The events are: ·         April 2011 – London to Paris Cycle Ride – on a fixed wheel bike (no gears, no freewheeling) ·         November 2011 – New York Marathon ·         <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">March 2012 – Climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As well as the above I also hope to complete a number of training events including three or four 10k runs, the Great Eastern half marathon, the Dragon Ride Cycle Sportive in Wales, the Dunwich Dynamo bike ride, complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks hill walk and climb Mt. Snowdon twice.  It’s called <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Yellow Beetle Challenge because Sam was known in our home town for driving her yellow VW Beetle. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So why? Well I need to do something or else I will go mad. This is my way of motivating myself and dealing with the life-changing events of 2010. If you would like to get involved with <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Yellow Beetle Challenge by participating in 1, 2 or all 3 of the main challenges or some of the training events <a href="http://www.yellowbeetlechallenge.co.uk/how-to-get-involved/what-can-you-do"></a>please visit <a href="http://www.yellowbeetlechallenge.co.uk/">www.yellowbeetlechallenge.co.uk</a> for more details <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; line-height: 150%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Thank you for your support. Mike   Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. 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 - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. So please dig deep and donate now.