Ride4Rene

Hi Everyone,

On June 28th 2021 my dad Rene was diagnosed with Guillan Barre Syndrome (I know, never heard of it either!) and within 4 days of being admitted to hospital with tingling hands and feet, his condition rapidly worsened and his body began shutting down as he entered a full state of paralysis. Sadly, he was admitted to Intensive Care & put on life support due to the severity of his illness. Following a turbulent, uncertain, life threatening 4-week period of sedation, ventilation, and infections, he has been discharged from ITU, transferred to a high dependancy ward and is now starting to learn how to become mobile again. As he leaves one traumatic phase and enters another, our focus is now on rehabilitating him which we are told can involve up to 12 months of intensive physio therapy.

For those of you who know Rene, you'll know that he is built differently. He's loved far & wide and I think a big part of this endearment is down to his warm heart, strong mind and good nature. As his son, it's a surreal feeling to witness this craziness unfold and see the active, energetic man I've always known turn into an immobile, helpless patient of the healthcare system. He's got a long painful road ahead of him and it's for that reason that I am setting up Ride4Rene. On the subject of long painful roads, myself and my oldest friends (who have known my Dad for 20 years) are going to take on a 110km off-road cycle between London & Brighton, which should take us around 11 hours to complete! If you'd like to donate to help fundraise, my family would be extremely grateful, any contribution would be massively generous!

Thanks for reading,

Al x