On 30th of March 2020, one week into the first lockdown, my wife Jennifer was diagnosed with grade 3 triple-negative breast cancer. It was in an incredible shock and turned our lives upside down.

I couldn't be more proud of the NHS for looking after Jen.  Everything happened very quickly, and within a couple of weeks of being diagnosed Jen started a gruelling 18 weeks of chemotherapy.

This was tough, physically and mentally.  Jen had to deal with some horrible side effects, and thanks to Covid, had to attend all appointments on her own.  Along with that we all struggled with the mental challenges of not knowing whether the treatment was working.  Thankfully our daughter Olive was too young to know what was going on, but there were times she couldn't understand why mummy couldn't play with her as much as usual. Jen was strong throughout though and we all tried to stay positive. We were lucky to have a big support network of family and friends to help us through, albeit virtually!

Thankfully Jen responded well to chemotherapy, with only a small amount of cancer left at the end.  A single mastectomy was performed in September 2020.  Scans and tests following surgery showed no further signs of cancer - an amazing result.

Moving forward Jen will have further surgery, along with regular scans to check everything is as it should be.  We look forward to putting all this behind us.

Throughout Jen's diagnosis and treatment I found the information available from Breast Cancer Now invaluable. It really helped me understand what was going on, and made me realise how many people are going through the very same. They also fund world-class research projects into breast cancer treatments and drugs (specifically for triple negative breast cancer, which is underfunded).

I decided that I needed to do something to give a little back. Throughout Jen's treatment, cycling was my escape - a way to help me deal with everything we were going through. This led me to the idea of cycling across the country in a day. Jen's love of piers then got me looking for an end point with a pier, and a 138 mile route from St Anne's pier to Saltburn-by-the-sea's pier was chosen.

My good friend Anthony Bentwood is coming along for the ride and we're both ready to train hard in preparation for our challenge on 23rd July 2021.

Please give what you can to this worthy charity.  As a family directly affected by cancer, raising awareness and raising money for cancer charities will be a part of our lives forever, in the hope that one day cancer treatment will be kinder, and better than it is now.  Let's beat cancer together.  

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.