UPDATE:

"Hello again,

I did it - I hit my goal of cycling 100 miles for charity in May. 

I did it in the morning, I did it in the evening, I did it if it was hot (very hot May) or cool. Even if I could only manage 1km some days, I still went.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me and made a donation so far. Both the charity and I really appreciate it.

A big THANK YOU.

Tristan"

_________________________________________

"Hello. 

My name is Tristan. I am 8 years old and I am raising money for charity because I want to help other people who are struggling because of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

I am raising money for the Suffolk Community Foundation who will soon be starting an appeal for Young People, called the Youth Intervention Fund, which will still be there to support children and young people who need help when lockdown is over."

Our 8 year old son, Tristan, saw the 2.6 Challenge suggested to support the charities who lost out on sponsorship money, usually raised from the London Marathon, and he decided he wanted to take part. He told us he wanted to raise money for three charities: a charity for children, an animal charity, and a charity which provides food for those who are struggling.

Tristan decided on a cycle challenge. He completed 26.2km cycle over the first 4 days of the 7 day fundraising window and we then challenged him to reach 26.2 miles (the length of a marathon) before the 7 day deadline – he achieved this goal too! Tristan raised £200.20.

The money raised from this challenge was shared between three worthy causes in line with Tristan’s wishes – NSPCC (a charity for children), FIND (a charity providing food and support to families) and the BLUE CROSS (a charity for animals).

Our son is really inspired to do good for others and this Just Giving page is the next phase of his endeavours, working towards a ‘100 Miles in May’ cycle challenge, to raise more money, this time, specifically for young people in Suffolk.

It is no mean feat for him because Tristan has hyper-mobility, a form of which causes him a fair amount of pain. He was born with no hip joints which, following immediate treatment for a few months as a baby, were ‘fixed’, which is utterly incredible and we are forever grateful to the NHS for this. Yet despite taking his first proper steps on his first birthday, Tristan has never been able to walk far, finding swimming lessons agonising, and activities like jumping, walking and kicking a ball very painful. We have always kept active but found his lack of interest to walk and increasing problems with pain, increasingly perplexing. We finally had a diagnosis of symptomatic hyper-mobility two months before his fifth birthday, just before he started school.

It has been a tough journey finding a balance between too much exercise causing him significant pain which disrupts his sleep and ability to concentrate, versus doing too little, which causes muscles and ligaments to tighten and hurt because they have been under-used. Even though Tristan gets most of his pain in his lower legs and behind his knees, his core, arm and thigh muscles are really strong, so cycling is a perfect form of exercise for him, where he can push himself and cover a good distance. He could never walk more than a mile or so without a lot of pain, but he can cycle 10-15 km and feel good about this achievement. So, his choice of cycling seemed the perfect choice for this challenge and it has proved to be perfect!

As a family, we looked at many charitable organisations to support, but Tristan was adamant that he wants to help local children and young people who live in Suffolk. This is where the Suffolk Community Foundation comes in. This organisation exists to support all the small charities in Suffolk who often do not have a voice. More comprehensive
details about the Foundation can be found at the following address: 
   https://www.justgiving.com/suffolkfoundation

Their existing fund is a coronavirus appeal but they are in the process of setting up a fund specifically for young people affected by the coronavirus, called the Youth Intervention Fund, which will support children in as many ways as it can, once the lockdown has been lifted. This may be through food banks, bereavement support, mental health and so on. All money raised through this fund will be fed directly back to charitable work for young people in Suffolk.

Tristan is aiming to raise as much as he can for the Suffolk Community Foundation. If you feel you can make a donation to this worthy cause then that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Wishing you well in this difficult time.

Steve, Claire and Tristan

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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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.