Our story begins in September 2019, when my wife Rachel went for what she believed was a routine breast screening. A week later, we attended the Mermaid Centre for a follow-up appointment with no expectation that anything was wrong. We sat in the waiting room, chatting as normal, completely unaware that our lives were about to change forever.

Then came the words, you never want to hear: “You have cancer.”

In that instant, everything changed, shock, fear and disbelief took over. Our minds were filled with questions — how do we tell our children? our family? our friends? what happens next? what does this mean? what are my chances?

From that moment on, the team at the Mermaid Centre were incredible. They treated Rachel with kindness, honesty and compassion, supporting her through two surgeries, radiotherapy and countless follow-up appointments. When we felt scared or overwhelmed they were there for us every step of the way.

Our story has a happy ending after five years and this fundraiser is our way of saying thank you and to help ensure this vital service can continue to support other families in our Cornwall community when they need it most.

The fundraising event is a 200 mile cycle ride from Isle of Sheppey to Western-Super-Mare all in one day starting at 4.30am in the morning and finishing before sunset. Last years event was on the hottest day of the year!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. Any donation, no matter how small, will truly make a difference.

Some additional information on the charity:

Supporting The Mermaid Centre Fund, part of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Charity will help us to provide additional equipment, enhance our environments and provide additional training for our staff all to provide the very best care that we can for our patients.

The Mermaid Centre is home to the Cornwall Breast Screening Programme (NHS BSP) and the Oncoplastic Breast Unit. We also monitor patients with a family history that maybe at higher risk of developing breast cancer.

It was one of the first units in the UK to have a fully digitalised mammography screening service. Our commitment to providing the highest possible quality screening programme was judged the best screening programme in the region in 2008, and among the best in the UK by the South West Screening Quality Assurance team. In October 2011, the Mermaid Centre was one of the first breast units in the country to be endorsed by Breakthrough Breast Cancer for our Service Pledge commitment to the patients of Cornwall.

Thank you