Hello Again Everyone 👋🏼 💚

In light of international suicide prevention day, I've decided to launch a new fundraising campaign to encourage a moment of reflection, discussion and to bring awareness to the topic of suicide and mental health as an often forgotten about and stigmatized point of conversation.

For anyone new to my Just Giving page:

2023 was the most difficult year of my life to date. My lifelong best friend Matthew tragically took his own life, which there aren't really any combination of words I can put together to appropriately summarise the size of the grief and the loss felt by everyone who loved Matthew and knew Matthew for the incredible human being that we all know him to be.

We shared 20+ years or so together, so to call him a friend does not seem to fit the relationship we had adequately enough, as he was more like family to me, another younger brother.

This of course was not only a grief shared by me, but Matthews vast network of friends from both South Africa and the UK, and of course Matthew's family, who are very much an extension of my own.

Last year I did a fundraiser for the Samaritans as a tribute to Matthew, and so many who have suffered in silence and lost, and to try inspire people who are currently suffering to believe in a better tomorrow ...

To check in on close friends and family that you perhaps haven't in a little while,

To perhaps open up about things that are weighing heavily on your mind, shoulders and heart with someone close to you,

And most importantly - to normalise not feeling okay and feeling like there always has to be a "yeah I'm fine" "I'm okay" at the end of every "how are you".

The vessel for championing the above, and helping drive the conversation will be a visit back to the Desert of Namibia 🏝️

For those thinking "lunatic surely"

You're probably right ... But I'm a sucker for a challenge and positive change.

So as a tribute to Matthew, everyone else who has suffered or currently is suffering with mental health battles - I will be taking on the 2024 edition of the Namibian Desert Dash

This is the world's longest single stage Mountain Bike event 🚲

Requiring all solo entrants to complete a mammoth 397-Km cycle across the Namib desert within 24 hrs from Windhoek to the coast line of Swakopmund.

It's a real test of mental perseverance and endurance, which I think is very fitting for the cause.

I have not set a target this year but last year we managed a staggering £4000 - which I am beyond thankful and proud of.

A potential 700 lifesaving calls could have been answered thanks to the effort we all put in last year, so hopefully we can come close to ending the year with another really impactful tally to celebrate going into the festive season which despite the joyful conations, can be the most depressing part of the year for some, and the busiest period of the year for suicide helplines like the Samaritans and CALM.

The charity I am fundraising for this year is CALM, for which there is a short snippet about below👇🏼

They also offer a helpline free of charge to anyone struggling with their mental health. As well as very powerful campaigns designed to get the conversation about mental to the point it deserves to be, to end living miserably and to break the stigma that is still very prevalent in our society.

Their latest campaign for suicide prevention day is amazing, and definitely requires a few tissues:

https://www.thecalmzone.net/missed-birthdays

I would greatly appreciate any donation you could make to CALMs fantastic cause, or whatever words of encouragement you could spare for getting me across that desert !

Thank you all so much for taking the time, looking forward to seeing what we can do with this by 6th December 💚

Take Care,

Craig

We’re Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), and we’re a suicide prevention charity. We’ve got loads of tools and resources to help people find the support they need, including a life-saving helpline for people who can’t see a way forward, have lost someone to suicide, or are worried about their friends or loved ones.

£12.20 is enough to fund one potentially life-saving call.