UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2020 - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 😀🚴‍♂️💪

UPDATE AUGUST 2020 - ALL CHANGE !! This challenge was postponed until October due to Covid, but now I can't participate in the event because I have to have another operation in late September to remove some more tumours from my liver. So..... I now plan to do the challenge before my op just with my bike buddy Stuart. We plan to ride the full 50 miles and keep to the original route as much as possible.

We will be attempting this gruelling off-road South Downs cycle challenge (elevation - 5,010ft / 1,527m = lots and lots of hills!!) to raise money for a relatively unknown cancer charity - Neuroendocrine Cancer UK (NCUK, formerly NET Patient Foundation) which has been a huge support to me since my diagnosis.  The Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice are hosting the event in October, and my aim is to share some of the funds raised with them.

In January 2017, I was unexpectantly diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called a Neuroendocrine Tumour (NET).  I had been suffering from stomach aches for some time and had lost weight but we all thought it was a reoccurrence of a hernia. We never thought it would be cancer. Interestingly, because so little is generally known about this type of cancer, and because it hides itself so well in the body,  60-70% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, as I was.

Being told that this cancer was not curable but could be treated and managed was hard to take. The shock of this revelation hit me and
my family hard and in the early days it was difficult to accept and take it all on board. This is where NCUK was so helpful. Their website https://www.Neuroendocrine Cancer UK.org/ was full of really useful information about this relatively unknown cancer and it was explained in plain easy-to-understand English. At the time there was a lot of medical jargon to take in, and this website was a blessing to help unpack the information and made me feel a little less overwhelmed. Although I never spoke directly to anyone from this organisation, their website was an invaluable rock when I most needed it.

August update - after 3 courses of chemotherapy and two major liver operations in the last 3 years, they have found 3 more tumours on my liver that need removing. This will involve a pretty major operation scheduled for late September, but will hopefully leave me tumour-free for a long time into the future. I want to grasp this opportunity before my op to help raise money for this fantastic charity.

Chestnut Tree House, who are organising the event, is also a very worthy cause. It is the childrens’ hospice for East and West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and South-East Hampshire and cares for 300 children and young adults from 0-19 years of age with progressive life-shortening conditions https://www.chesnut-tree-house.org.uk/

I know we are continually being asked to donate money to various charities, almost on a day-to-day basis, but if you can “spare a shekel for an ex-leper”, no matter how large or small, then this would be massively appreciated.  

BIG thanks

Martin xx