CFB 50k ultra ergathon for James ❤️

Hi, myself, Alice, Toni, mat and Craig are taking part to raise money to send James and his young family on a much needed holiday after their long ordeal!

He often trained with us at CrossFit Barnsley until his shock diagnosis.

The 50k ultra ergathon challenge consists of each participant running, rowing, skiing and c2 biking 12.5km of each exercise. It will be taking place on Sunday the 13th of April.

Please read below as James describes what they’ve been through and why they deserve it so much.

In August 2024 I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. It’s an aggressive form of leukaemia that usually is found in children or people over 60. I was 36.

I required the toughest road of treatment and that means an even longer road to recovery which I am still on.

I had multiple rounds of chemotherapy from August through to early December which was hard to say the least. The aim of this was to kill any leukaemia cells in my body and prepare me for a stem cell transplant. Because the type of leukaemia I have is aggressive and prone to relapse, a transplant was my only hope of a cure.

The transplant took place in January this year, and I had to have 8 doses of full body radiotherapy in the days preceding it to give it the best chance of working. I then had more chemotherapy in the days after. The side effects of all this treatment have been brutal. I spent 5 weeks in hospital stuck a room by myself with only my wife for a visitor as I was so at risk of infection; a common cold would be really harmful to me as I simply don’t have the white blood cells to fight any sort of illness. I’m still in this state of vulnerability now while my blood counts recover. Although I’ve now been discharged from the hospital, I am still there multiple times a week so my blood counts can be checked and so I can have transfusions of blood, platelets and magnesium.

When I was diagnosed, I had to stop working and immediately went onto statutory sick pay, which meant that our household income drastically reduced overnight. I have recently been told I won’t be fit to return to work for at least 12 months due to the extreme fatigue that comes after a stem cell transplant, and I also have to allow my body to fully recover. It’s a long and slow road. Hopefully it will all be worth it and it will give me a long healthy life with my wife and two young children.

Throughout all of this I have never asked anyone for anything, but Ryan contacted me and asked if he could do a fitness challenge to raise funds for us, with the help of Alice, Toni, Craig and Matt. Any money raised would go towards a UK family holiday in the summer, as our holiday last year was cancelled and I cannot travel abroad until next year at the earliest. It would be amazing if we could have a little family break as we’ve lost so much time together over the past few months.

If anybody does feel like they’re happy to donate then thank you so much. It means the world to us.