Cycling Fundraiser in Aid of Two Local Cancer-Care Charities

On Sunday 30th June I’ll set off from Lands End at the southwest tip of Cornwall on a long-distance, 3,500km cycle with the aim of reaching Inverness, Scotland by mid-July.

While doing this, I’d also like to support a very worthwhile fundraiser by my wonderful sister-in-law, Helen Rogers, for two great cancer-care support charities.

Thanks so much in advance for any donations you can make to this fundraiser.

Helen was diagnosed with cancer in late-2022. A year of hospital appointments, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed before Helen thankfully got the best Christmas present ever last year to say the treatments had been successful. Coping with the diagnoses, and the treatments, and trying to recover from the side-effects of those treatments, has been quite a journey as you can imagine. Helen’s experience of the health services on this journey was a positive one, but in particular she found the additional support of these two locally-based charities in Cavan invaluable:

• Bailieborough Cancer Comfort Ltd is a voluntary organisation and registered charity that provides support to cancer patients and their families in the Bailieborough area. They offer free transportation for cancer patients who need to travel for medical appointments or treatments. Helen found their support priceless and heartening during a month of daily, exhausting radio-therapy treatments in Dublin. Further information is available here: www.facebook.com/Bailieborocancercomfort

• Cancer Understanding and Nurturing "CUAN" is a social support and wellness group that provides psychological and emotional support services for men and women with a cancer diagnosis, their family members and caregivers. CUAN is a registered charity and offers a confidential space to talk, relax, participate in various programmes and experience some complementary therapies. Some of these therapies really helped Helen recover from various debilitating side-effects of the cancer treatments. Further information is available here: www.cuancancercavan.ie

All donations gathered through this fundraiser will be split 50:50 between these two remarkable charities.

My 3,500km cycle will be tracked via www.pancelticrace2024.maprogress.com/ as part of the wider Pan Celtic Race Series. I’ll be opting for the Kernow (Cornwall) starting option, and hope to set off on Sunday 30th June 2024. Overall, it will involve 12 or 13 days of cycling (depending on winds, hills and punctures!!), plus a two-day rest en route on the Isle of Man. Any number of things might go awry with bike or body, but if all goes well the plan is to reach Inverness in Scotland by mid-July, having hopefully gathered some attention for this fundraiser along the way.

This 3,500km cycle is nothing of course when compared to the journey that so many individuals and their families go through when cancer or some other health issue turns things upside down. Words can’t capture the value of various supports in such circumstances, whether that comes from family and friends, from health professionals, or from well-thought-out and personalised local charities. With that in mind, any support you can give to these two great local cancer support charities will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.