Tue 22 May.

Dear all, the donations are still coming in and I cannot believe the support that I have received.  I have now posted a few photos just to prove I did actually go to France!!  The total is going to be close to £1000 which is amazing.  Thank you all once again for your support.

Sat 12 May.  

Dear all, after nearly 2,400 miles between us we arrived at the Eiffel Tower in one piece with only 4 punctures and no mechanical failures, which is pretty good going. There were a few tender derriers but that was to be expected.  The weather improved on Friday and Saturday after a very wet first two days which included dripping all over the floor in Winchester Cathedral Coffee Shop (sorry for the mess and thank you for your donation).  

I can't even begin to thank you all for your very generous donations and kind words (mostly).  I will post the overall total in a few weeks when I have collected all sponsorship money.  I am sure that the CF Trust will be pleased with our donations and I know the money will be used to great effect.

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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. 

So what is my story, well A group of eight cyclists will be riding from Gloucester to Paris over 4 days 9-12 May 2012, we have all chosen a charity to ride for and I would like to ride for Cystic Fibrosis.  The other riders, four of them doctors have chosen other medical charities. 

Cystic fibrosis is a common inherited disease. It affects over 8,500 children and young adults in the UK, where five babies are born with the condition every week. Cystic fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system.

Why Cystic Fibrosis? well my sister Christine suffered from CF, she was one of the late developers and her symptoms did not emerge until she was 13 years old. She was often called the "Geriatric Cystic" by the staff in the Brompton and Harefield hospitals.  In later life she was included on the Heart & Lung transfer list and on 14th February 1995 she was lucky enough to have a Heart & Lung transplant operation at Harefield Hospital conducted by the great Sir Magdi Yacoub.

She had a new heart for Valentines day and very quickly her quality of life improved to a level she had not enjoyed since early childhood.  As you can imagine there are risks associated with this kind of operation and no guarantees. Unfortunately she died in February 1996 aged 33 just a few days short of 12 months after the operation from a mixture of complications.  Her new lease of life was short lived but she made the most of it and I am know she enjoyed every second supported by her familiy and boyfriend Steve. Her original heart was strong and donated to a young man from Watford who I believe is still alive and enjoying life.

As is often the case, CF is not unique within my close family, my cousin Patricia has a young daughter with CF and is coping as best she can with the life changing ups and downs it brings.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but many treatments and therapies can make cystic fibrosis easier to live with. This is where the CF Trust need all the funding they can get to provide help and support to CF sufferers and their families. 

A little bit about me, I am a 51 year old retired Royal Naval Officer and keen cyclist. I am a CF gene carrier but fortunately my wife is not and we have a healthy 14 year old son. Throughout my Naval career my ships and units raised funds for many charities including CF and now that I have an opportunity to raise funds independently I would like the CF Trust to benefit.

The work of the CF Trust is crucial to supporting CF patients and their families, please support me if you can.

If you would like more information about their work please follow the link below.

http://www.cftrust.org.uk/

I will update this page during the ride to keep all informed of progress.

Please give generously

Many thanks

Mike Conway (Russ to my old Navy colleagues)