What's going on

Ok so those of you who know me know I cycle to work, but I doubt that many of you know that I could barely ride a bike some 4 years ago.  Two stolen bikes later and a couple years plodding in to the office (8km each way) I am now endeavouring to cycle to Paris over four days with a group of guys from the office.  This is all happening over the first weekend of September, starting at Wellington Arch (outside the office) and finishing at the Arc de Triomphe.

The route is some 270 miles, with the first day being 86 miles and the longest.  Up until now the furthest I have gone in one single trip is about 15 miles and avoided anything with hills.  So over the next few weekends you can expect to find me down at Richmond park being passed by the hords of semi pro cyclists, building some sort of fitness up and also getting used to spending hours rather than minutes in the saddle. 

You can find the route at www.archtoarc.com/the-route if you are interested where the guys at the James Whale fund who are supporting us and one of the charities we are raising money for have all the details on thier annual ride.

Why?

September 2011 will mark the 1^st anniversary of David Dick’s death. David was one of the founding Partners of Triple Point and twice battled with Cancer.  Therefore we are taking on this challenge to raise money for two specialist cancer support charities.

The Charities

The first is the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity which was the hospital at which David was treated. Specifically, we will be raising money for Sarcoma Fund 475. This is a fund within the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign with a specific focus on sarcomas, the type of cancer that David had. Sarcomas afflict people of all ages including many young people - David was only 23 when first diagnosed. Fund 475 is overseen by Professor Ian Judson, who looked after David with enormous dedication and compassion over his last year. The pharmaceutical industry is reluctant to invest in rare diseases hence the importance of independent sources of funding. Fund 475 supports a team who carry out clinical research and drug trials - their target being to find new and better ways to successfully treat sarcomas.

The second charity is the James Whale Fund. Their volunteers will be the ones who actually organise the event for us. They focus very much on the support side, specialising in helping kidney cancer patients and their families by; ‘helping to reduce the incidence of kidney cancer by increasing knowledge and awareness, and by supporting research into the causes, prevention and treatment of the disease. Providing a support network offering advice, information and encouragement to those who’ve been diagnosed with kidney cancer and their carers’.

Because they don’t have huge resources they spend their money efficiently making sure that it makes the biggest difference on the ground, immediately. Some examples of things they have recently implemented are;-

·         Launched a 24/7 patient support line

·         Launched a degree level training course for support workers specifically for kidney cancer

·         Printed educational leaflets for recently diagnosed patients