Just 5 months after suffering a heart attack & cardiac arrest, whilst on holiday in Madeira, I am planning to ride solo from Paris to Lisbon,  to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. 

I am extremely lucky to be able to attempt this, as 90% of people having a cardiac arrest simply die, many of the survivors are left with impaired cognitive function. I too would be dead, were in not for the quick response of my family, a German Doctor who was on holiday nearby, who gave me CPR for 10 minutes & brought me back to life, the Portuguese emergency services & the excellent staff in the Cardiology ward in Funchal hospital, where I was cared for for 11 days. It was whilst in hospital there that I dreamt, that one day I might be able to go on another bike expedition to restore my physical self and try to banish the paranoia of an out of the blue repeat!  Far sooner than would have seemed possible back in April or, May the fulfilment of that dream is now about to be attempted!

In addition, to my personal heart issue, I am raising money for the BHF in memory of my brother Mark, who died 10 years ago on the 20th October 2009, from a heart attack.  My aim is to reach Lisbon in time to commemorate this anniversary, whilst at the same time getting almost as close as I can get on land to where I expired in Madeira on the 13th April 2019 - 6 months before. 

The British Heart Foundation's aim is to pioneer research into the causes of heart disease and improve the methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Their work has already helped halve the number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease in the UK, but the battle is far from won and they rely predominantly on voluntary donations to meet their aims - it's only thanks to support from the public that the BHF can create new treatments and discover new cures. £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps so please give what you can to help me exceed my target. 

Thank you for your support, I will keep you updated as the journey unfolds....