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Prestbury to Penryn 250

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From 6th to 9th September 2018 I shall be cycling 250 miles from Prestbury in Cheltenham to Penryn in Cornwall to raise awareness of the truly awful effects of long term Lyme disease on my beautiful niece Sophia.

Sophia has been chronically ill for almost a decade now and is almost exclusively house bound as a result.

Her dearest and most simple wish is to get well enough to get from her home in Prestbury to where she really wants to be in Penryn to walk once again on the beach with her boyfriend ( Paddy ) and her daschund ( Copper ) .

Anything you could spare to help make this a reality would be amazing.

Thank you!
John.

What this challenge is all about

My primary objective is to raise awareness each day of the ride through social media of the devastating and life changing effects of chronic illness caused by Lyme Disease on my niece Sophia Galpin and the stress it has caused her family. And Sophia is not alone – there are thousands of fellow sufferers throughout the uk, many of them are young and facing an uncertain future because their illness was not recognised early enough and they can’t get the help and support they so desperately need.
 
If I can also raise some funds to help Sophia in particular that would be a wonderful bonus as her medical expenses are extensive and ongoing. 

Sophia’s story

Before Sophia became ill she had led a full and healthy life, travelling around Australia in her gap year, graduating from Sheffield University with a 2:1 in speech and language therapy, and then moving to Cornwall to work and live with her partner Paddy and their dachshund puppy Copper in Penryn.
 
Her illness came on very suddenly and was so debilitating that she had to give up work and eventually return to her parents’ home in Prestbury, leaving behind her home and boyfriend in Cornwall, as she needed a great deal of medical care and family support. She was eventually diagnosed with lyme disease and several co-infections and viruses by a specialist German laboratory after many months of hospital appointments, x-rays, scans and blood tests through the UK health system which delivered no answers. By this time the disease had taken hold and caused havoc with her bodily systems, leaving her chronically fatigued, in excruciating pain, breathless, unable to walk more than a few steps and house bound. Lyme disease tests performed by the NHS are notoriously controversial and unreliable – they came back negative despite all of the obvious symptoms. She therefore got very limited help with treatment and has faced years of denial and dismissal by the UK medical profession who don’t recognise or understand the complexities of the chronic stages of this disease.
 
My sister Karen, Sophia’s mum, gave up work nearly 2 years ago to look after her and to research treatment options outside of the UK. They travelled to the USA in 2016 where Sophia attended a specialist lyme disease clinic and received daily intravenous antibiotic therapy for 8 weeks. Unfortunately, after returning to the UK she was too poorly and reactive to continue with the antibiotics. She is now following a more natural therapy plan from a skilled Naturopath which involves detoxifying the body and building up the immune system before undertaking the next phase of treatment. They are looking at various options which will all be self-funded.
 
Why this particular route?

Sophia is desperate to get back to Cornwall with Paddy and Copper and to be well enough to go out occasionally and enjoy the stunning Cornish scenery. Her ambition is very simple but would mean everything to them both – to be strong enough to walk Copper on the beach, and to wake up each day without pain.
 
She can’t make that route home from Prestbury to Penryn so on the 6th of September I will be cycling it for her, thinking about her every mile. Hopefully I will be able to raise awareness of the devastating effects of this disease on her and countless others when it’s left untreated because things need to change – and quickly.

I will be publishing a map of the actual route very soon.

You can find out more about Sophia, her struggles with chronic illness and her lyme disease journey on her website. 
 
 

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Donations 

  • Michelle Grattan
    • £30
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

John Bailey
Organizer
England

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