I was introduced to Bob and MyelomaUK via two Windsor Velo cyclists who had booked a family holiday at my villa in Tuscany.  We had a few great rides during their stay - I run cycling holidays here so we found some great routes.   We didn’t go quite as far as Pisa or Rome(!) but a seed of an idea was there after tackling some of these great Tuscan Hills.

Bob got in touch soon after and together with my great team of people here in Italy we put together this epic ride from Pisa to Rome.  

I’m really looking forward to training hard and being a team captain on this great adventure and hopefully getting lots of sponsorship for this very worthwhile cause.

Here's Bob's story - in his own (many!) words...

After initiating and taking part in 4 amazing London to Paris Cycling Fundraisers, I wanted to repeat the experience on an even more beautiful route with an equally iconic City finish to celebrate reaching 60. An age I never thought I'd reach 8 years ago after the devastating diagnosis of the incurable blood cancer Myeloma. 

So I have put together a route from the Tower of Pisa, through Tuscany, to Siena and Viberto and onto the the Rome via the Vatican City and a gladiatorial finish at the Colosseum.                         In 2016 I was joined by 45 friends and family on the inaugural Paris ride and this year 60 riders (appropriately) have already signed up for this 60th birthday celebration and Myeloma UK fundraiser. I should point out all the riders pay the full cost of their trips and 100% of your sponsorship donations will go directly to Myeloma UK.

Myeloma UK is not just a very well run worthy cause, it has led directly to the extension of quality lives of patients like me through its work in research, trials and patient advocacy, leading to the accelerated development and availability of an incredible range of new drugs in the past 10-15 years. Without these drugs I, and many of my fellow patients, would undoubtedly not be here to tell the tale, so you can see why I am so passionate about helping to funds their activities, and why I am so grateful that this incredible team has come together to support me.

And if I've still got you (apologies for my verbosity) a bit more background..........When I was diagnosed with this incurable cancer in 2012, I learned that 25% of patients last less than 2 years and only 45% make it to 5 years. These were shocking statistics for me, Linda and the boys. And in 2012, after the first 3 existing drugs/chemo failed, things were looking grim, but in 2013 I was prescribed a newly developed drug which kept my Myeloma under control for 3 years until 2016, although nowhere near remission. There were plenty of scrapes along the way, permanent blindness in one eye, radiotherapy on my spine, fractured sacrum etc but because I was stupid enough to go skiing when I had flu and caught pneumonia in 2012, I was diagnosed before I suffered the catastrophic vertebrae or kidney damage that is so common in newly diagnosed Myeloma patients. 

But as all of you know, during this time I became fit enough to take up road cycling and this has become my salvation and the focus for my fundraising activities By the time that drug stopped working in 2017, several others had been developed and made available, and again I was the lucky recipient of two of them in delicious and effective cocktail, which kept me stable again, until very recently. But then my biomarkers started to rise and my bones turned to kikat, with a collapsed vertebrae and two broken ribs in quick succession. This is the pattern for most patients, temporary respite until the cancer mutates and overtakes the ability of the drugs to work. And then a new and more effective drug or combo is required. 

I am currently trying a new combination of existing drugs and closely monitoring the very promising pipeline of new drugs for my next option. So I am now a very lucky 8 year survivor, and the only reason I am still alive is the advancement in research and development of new drugs over the past 10 years and this is where Myeloma UK comes in. 

They are the only UK organisation dealing exclusively with Myeloma, funding research into new drugs, running trials that facilitate early access and acting as a powerful patient advocate to bring together Pharma companies, the Government/NHS and NICE to accelerate licensing, approval and thus their availability. There are several new lines of treatment, including, but not limited to, Car T-Cell therapy, which have incredible potential and may even be close to a cure. I remain unfailingly optimistic that I may one day be the recipient of one of these cures but without a powerful patient advocate like Myeloma UK funding research and fighting our corner, time will run out for me and many other Myeloma patients. 

I’ve been so lucky to be an outlier in survival terms, and grateful that I have managed to have a great quality of life and I hope that my good fortune to be able to cycle and fundraise can be translated into help and hope for all my fellow patients and all those to come. 

We would all really appreciate anything you can donate to help my team reach their targets for Italy. 

Thank You.    

Bob

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