One year ago our son Alex Yeldham was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia) and was admitted to the Royal Marsden Hospital on his 5th birthday in March 2017. Those early days and months post-diagnosis were some of the hardest and most difficult to bear as parents. Alex went through multiple gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and suffered the brunt of many side effects - hair loss, weakness, nausea, altered sense of taste, a compromised immune system - things no five year old should ever have to contend with. Throughout the year there have been many ups and downs, unanticipated hospitalisations, chicken pox scares and worrying blood count readings. Happily things are now on a more even keel with Alex currently on maintenance treatment. However treatment for ALL sufferers and boys in particular is long, and for Alex it will continue until May 2020 so there is still a very long road ahead.

Since being confronted by the disease we have come to understand the vital importance of historical research which ultimately lead to today's treatments. Today's advances in cytogenetics and gene-editing technology have opened up whole new treatment avenues for many diseases, including ALL. Our hope is that tomorrow's ALL sufferers, so many of whom are children, will have alternative effective cures which don't result in the same indiscriminate and sometimes life-threatening side-effects as chemotherapy.

To that end we are setting out to raise money for Bloodwise, a leading UK cancer charity which funds vital research into blood cancers. Blood cancer is the 3rd most fatal and 5th most common cancer in the in the UK today, claiming more lives than both breast and prostate cancer. UK blood cancer research leads the world, and Bloodwise has a demonstrable track record in funding research projects which have lead to improved survival rates and quality of life.

To raise funds, we will be cycling from London to Paris in September 2018 and have enlisted the help of some fantastic teammates to create Alex's All Stars. The team is comprised of Jason Yeldham, Nikki Yeldham, Dom Rowbotham, Nick Gordon (Gav), JP Paré and Phil Irons and we will be taking on the considerable challenge of riding 500km from London to Paris over four days. This represents a huge undertaking for us as a team but also as individuals given most of us have never ridden more than 50km in one go, let alone 125km a day for four days straight! That said, the pain and discomfort will not be a patch on what Alex has had to endure during his treatment. He has handled his treatment like a superhero and always with a smile on his face, and will no doubt be an inspiration for us through those more difficult sections of the ride.

We have to believe that something good can come from all of this, so if our story has moved you, and if you want to help make this journey easier for other families like ours and future generations of blood cancer sufferers, we would appreciate your donations. Whatever you are able to give, however large or small, will help to fund kinder more targeted treatments and eventually a cure.

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