Updated 10 Aug 20

This story began for me back in December last year when my wonderful friend Amy Gilmore was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. My original aim was to complete the Edinburgh Marathon in May this year, raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in her name; a lot has changed since then and the story has evolved somewhat… Please read on as this takes quite some explaining!

First and most importantly – Amy Gilmore… For those of you who know her, you know that she is just a wonderful human being. She is an incredible daughter, sister, wife, friend and also an immensely strong and high-achieving Naval Officer and Aviator. To me though, she is the amazing friend who has been by my side supporting me through so much, advising me and steering me in the right direction. Amy has generally tried to keep me out of trouble as I negotiate the Navy and life in general (in the past she has threatened to give me lessons on how to 'human' more effectively!).

Since Amy was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, my mind has been blown watching her put her mental strength and physical resilience to use. Not only has she been fighting the cancer itself, but also the horrendous effects of the drugs and chemotherapy; she puts me to shame, hence why I tried to find a way of pushing myself physically while she sits on her butt for a bit…

As a previous non-runner, between January and the end of March this year I had run nearly 500 miles in training, but after experiencing pain in my hip I was devastated to learn not only did I have acute tendonitis in my hip flexor, but also a fractured pelvis… My running days were over for the foreseeable future and a marathon in May was beyond me. I clearly couldn’t throw in the towel, so I did the next best thing - I borrowed a bike and jumped on for the first time in over 10 years. The new plan and challenge was to cycle 112 miles in August - 112 because that’s the cycling distance of an Ironman, just as a marathon is the running distance that I could no longer do.

Training was going well, and having covered over 1,100 miles in 3 months my morale was riding high, until 2 weeks ago I had a horror crash. My memory of the crash is happily wiped, however I’m told I slid on a corner while going around 35mph, I bounced off my head into a kerb, before catapulting to a stop on the verge. Many wonderful people came to my aid that afternoon, however I spent the next week in hospital with a very real, and very life-threatening injury. I had broken 3 bones in my shoulder and grated/bruised my entire right-hand side, but I also had a bleed on the brain... Luckily, the bleed subsided and Neurological Surgery came off the cards, however I did have to have an operation to reset, plate and pin my collar bone back into place.

At this point I learnt that one of the Good Samaritans who helped me that afternoon had stepped forward to take the fundraising baton from me, by raising money for completing a 100-mile running race across the North Downs. I couldn’t have been more taken aback and blown away by this show of kindness, and as it stands, Paul Reader has raised nearly an additional £2,000 for this cause. I will be forever grateful to him for what he has done and the kindness he has displayed; his total will be added to mine shortly. For a while I thought that was it, my attempts were done and I could do no more, however again, I simply can’t walk away from this; I still can’t justify throwing in the towel…

So, with surgery now 10 days behind me, I’m in a sling for the next 6ish weeks and clearly unable to ride my bike on the roads. But, armed with my beaten up, bent bike from the crash, attached to a Turbo Trainer in our garage, my new aim is to ride 120 miles indoors (112 miles ‘plus a bit’ to compensate for being indoors) to complete this challenge, and importantly to justify your incredibly heart-felt donations. The ride will be done on the 19^th August (the day I originally planned my 112 miles) and I imagine I will be cycling for around 8 hours, however I will keep going until I’ve covered the distance.

Thank you so much for sticking with Amy and me through this challenge (and through this version of War & Peace!), hopefully on the 19^th August I will finish what I started and be happy that I have supported my friend Amy, raised awareness of Macmillan Cancer Support, and convinced a huge amount of you to donate a truly phenomenal amount. I am forever grateful, and humbled by you all.