In July 2015 I will set out to complete all 21 stages of the 2015 Tour de France route, just one day ahead of the professional men's race.  The ride will comprise 3,344 km, with 9 flat stages, 3 hilly stages, 7 mountain stages, 2 time trials and just 2 rest days. I will be riding alongside Leukaemia survivor Geoff Thomas. No female rider has yet completed this challenge!

In undertaking this challenge I hope to raise £50,000 for Cure Leukaemia.

Please find more information about the charity below.

In 2003 Geoff Thomas was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia and was given less than three months to live. Following treatment from Cure Leukaemia Co-founder Professor Charlie Craddock, including a bone marrow transplant from his sister, Geoff has been in remission since January 2005.

Geoff and Melissa's fundraising efforts through Le Tour – One Day Ahead will go towards boosting the life–saving work carried out at the Centre for Clinical Haematology (CCH) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham (QEHB), where Professor Craddock treated Geoff. The £1 million they to raise through Le Tour – One Day Ahead will increase the Centre’s ability to deliver pioneering treatments for blood cancer patients at this international centre of excellence in Birmingham consistent with the Government’s Life Sciences vision.

The money raised will pay for:

• More specialist research nurses
• Ability to deliver more state of the art therapies clinical trials and blood cancer treatments
• The potential to deliver stem cell transplants as an outpatient procedure
• A dramatically improved patient experience
• The chance of developing cures for a range of blood cancers within the next 30 years
• Consolidate the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s position as a world-leading centre for the development of new drugs for the treatment of blood cancer

This video link below presented by Cure Leukaemia Patron Adrian Chiles explains more about what Cure Leukaemia do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhxJuM58vQ

The relationship Cure Leukaemia has with pharmaceutical companies means that every £1 raised is worth £10 in potentially life-saving drugs for leukaemia patients, the money Melissa is raising will help save lives.

This video described how the money is used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhv3TEQ_ORY

For more information about Cure Leukaemia go to: www.CureLeukaemia.co.uk

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