Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating muscle-wasting disease. It is the most common and severe form of muscular dystrophy. Diagnosed in childhood, it mainly affects boys. Started by families affected by the disease, Duchenne UK is the leading DMD charity in the UK: connecting the best researchers with industry, the NHS and families to advance and accelerate every stage of drug development. Together, we will end Duchenne.

My eldest grandson, Bruce (6), son of my daughter Kate and son in law Jim, was diagnosed with Duchenne just over a year ago in spring 2021.  It was a huge shock to all of the family as there had been no, to us, obvious symptoms either of Duchenne, which actually I'd never heard of before, or anything else; Bruce was, and still is, a lovely, lively, active, very clever boy, much loved by us, the immediate family (parents, his little brother, Grandma/my wife Maggie, uncles, aunts and cousins), everyone in the extended family, all his friends and anyone who comes across him.

I had been wondering for some time what I could do in practical terms, other than general support when needed, to help in some way to raise funds for and awareness of Duchenne and very recently heard of Duchenne UK and the "Dash AT HOME" so thought what better way to extract money from people than to give them the satisfaction of knowing the pain this (nearly) 65 year old body is going through whilst pedalling "100 miles!!!" in a day.

The plan is to do the ride on Saturday 11th June, you can see the proposed circular Old Stratford to Old Stratford route in the photos section.

Anything you can spare is very gratefully received.