Hi folks,

As you may know, my Mum, Judy Naunton, died of Leukaemia in September 2010. I miss her very much.

Mum battled against the illness for ten months. During that time she had three courses of chemotherapy which got rid of the cancerous cells, and a bone marrow transplant to make sure they couldn't come back. Although the treatment was successful in tackling the root cause, it ravaged Mum's body: for much of that time she could only 'eat' through an intravenous tube, she was frequently sick, she lost her hair of course, and by the end she was so weak that she couldn't stand, walk, or even sit up in bed without help. The illness and the treatment left her horribly exposed to infection and one day she caught something which affected her lungs, stopped her body from taking Oxygen on board, and just over a day after hospital staff noticed there was something very wrong, she slipped away.

The staff at Kingston Hospital and the Royal Marsden in Sutton were fantastic, but Leukaemia is a horrible, horrible illness. Mum really suffered for those ten months. We all did our best to keep her spirits - and ours - up, but it wasn't easy. We would have done anything to have made her life more comfortable and there's not much I wouldn't do now to have her back.

The people at Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research are doing everything they can to try and beat this disease. I'm riding from Lands End to John O'Groats on a folding bike, starting on Friday 3 august, in the hope that you will want to sponsor me so that we can all help the LLR team out.

Mum would probably think this was a typically silly thing for me to want to do. She'd roll her eyes and smile but I think she'd approve.

Any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated, by me and my family, by the LLR team, and by anyone affected by blood cancers. Go on, it's just a click away...

I plan to keep you updated of our progress with words, photos and maps as follows:

Twitter: @chrisnaunton / https://twitter.com/chrisnaunton

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/christopher.naunton

Instagram (photos): chrisnaunton / http://ink361.com/#/users/8293647/photos

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.

 

Thanks for reading and for any contribution you can make!

Chris