Celtman for Evie and Eilidh

Hi all, I'm Neil and I'm fundraising for two very important charities by taking part in this year's Celtman extreme triathlon in the Scottish Highlands.

Evie goes to my daughter and son's primary school. Evie has just turned 10, and is the friendliest, bubbliest girl we've ever met. Evie has the extremely rare CLN5 variant of Battens Disease, a neurodegenerative condition with no current treatment. It will progressively cause Evie to suffer from blindness, epileptic seizures and mobility issues that will result in Evie needing a wheelchair and will significantly shorten her life.

Eilidh Stewart was my cousin who tragically passed away from cervical cancer just over 2 years ago, just after turning 40. Eilidh was also bubbly, and lit up each and any room she walked into. Eilidh had noticed bleeding and was diagnosed with stage 2B cervical cancer, which later spread. Covid lockdown was in effect at the time which made family visits during her recovery from surgery particularly challenging. Eilidh's end-of-life care was provided by Roxburghe House in Dundee, a palliative care unit. The staff there are incredible and provided really strong support to our family, most importantly Graeme, Anne, Ranald and Liam.

To raise funds I'm taking part in Celtman, which is an extreme triathlon made up of a

3.4km loch swim in jellyfish-infested waters, then a 200km bike ride and a marathon over two munros. I've been in training since January and now the event is almost 5 weeks away so starting to feel real now.

Any donations raised are hugely appreciated and will go to Evie's family to support Evie with any equipment she may need and to help provide her with experiences while she can enjoy them, and to Roxburghe House to support the amazing work they do, in Eilidh's memory.

Many thanks,

Neil