Hi Everyone.

King Alfred's Way was amazing. Scorching hot, lots of rough trails and climbing, incredible views.

Simply being able to complete this ride was beyond my wildest expectations just a year ago. I never expected to ride again. Just shows what brilliant research has and can achieve.

Your kind donations are now with the research team at Royal Berks Hospital. They are hugely grateful, as am I.

You are brilliant.

Thank you.

Alan

So, what's this all about?

As a few of you know, in 2024 I was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer. Yet, after treatment I live an entirely normal life and will enjoy Christmas 2035. It’s no more hassle to me than well managed diabetes is for many others. Just twenty years ago I’d have been toast, a result that would have been most inconvenient for me and my family!

There are still all manner of nasty illnesses that can get us, however well we take care of ourselves. You may have lost family, friends or colleagues and wondered ‘why?’ When random bad things happen our fate so often depends upon unknowns who’ve gone before, raising funds, carrying out research and being trial patients. I’m just one of many who owe my life to these people. The cover photo of this page is of my life-long friend Ian and I at the end of an 80 mile event following his own successful cancer surgery (2022).

What many of us won’t know is that nationally and internationally important research into treatment for nasties is very much an in-hospital activity. Royal Berks Hospital currently has 176 trials in progress to find fixes for cancer, heart disease, renal issues, skin issues, ear, nose, and throat problems; diabetes, infection, orthopaedics, lung problems, reproductive issues, stroke, surgery, trauma, critical care.

Patients, (including me) are persuaded to take part in trials by research nursing teams that then look after them through treatment. This work is vital, and I hope you will join me in community funding research that could benefit any of us.

It will be amazing if you can do at least two of these things:

1. Add £10 - forgo three coffees - to the pot.

2. Add £20 – you can manage without cake for a day!

3. Get carried away – you choose – this stuff matters to you.

4. Reshare this page. Perhaps your wider friends, family and colleagues can chuck in a few £ because they know this matters to everyone.

3. CSR money. Can your employer / company get involved? I can share relevant contacts.

So, what graft am I going to put in to justify your caffeine shakes and cake depletion? I'll ride the 217-mile King Alfred Way at the end of June over four days. This won’t be a doss for me. I’ve only recently returned to cycling after five in-patient stays in 2024, six months in a full body brace due to significant spine damage from the cancer, and a stem cell transplant. Re-gaining fitness is a work in progress!

No e-bike skiving either.

I want to demonstrate what funding research can achieve. It can turn a ‘Big C’ into a ‘little c’ that’s far less scary.

Go on. Chuck in a few quid. Do it. It’s not for me. It’s for us. All of us.

Thank you.

Alan

My family - right to left - Archie's a medical student at Bristol Uni, Karen's a year 5 teacher at Caversham Primary, Clemmie's studying history at Oxford Uni, I've just finished my drink!

Rocking my 'crappy Storm Trooper' body brace look. So 2024...