Teenage Cancer Trust - Fundraiser bike ride - an idea

davesnothere

I know many of you will have read MRS's thread about his daughter and her illness. You will also have noted his praise for the TCT and the work that they do in helping youngsters with these awful illnesses.

Reading the thread really resonated with me and it has been on my mind. I decided it would be good to try and do something positive about it and have had a bit of an idea. I've run it past MRS and he is happy for me to suggest it to you all and hopefully gather some interest.

Basic idea is based upon something called Bart's Bash, I'm a dinghy sailor and every year we take part (on a certain day) in a race at our club. On the same day all over the country and indeed all over the world other clubs do the same thing. It's a fun race, the idea being to get lots of people on the water and raise some money for the charity. Andrew (Bart) Simpson was an olympic sailor who sadly died in a sailing accident and it was set up in his memory.

My idea is that on a particular day, we all get together with our mates, families, riding buddies and club mates and go for a ride. Suggested distance is a lap of 20km (a rideable distance for kids, occasional cyclists etc) if people want to do 2, 3, 4 or more laps then that's great, they can then record multiple x 20km rides.

Working title is 20K 4 TCT although open to suggestions for a better name!

Rather than one big organised ride we could then make it accessible for all. You can ride it on your own if you like or try and get a few bodies together to make it a bit more fun. Suggest that all who can make a small donation to TCT (we can set up a just giving page so money goes direct to them)

Worst scenario is we only get 10 riders and raise a hundred quid but for me that is better than nothing. I suspect it wouldn't take too much effort for us all to get a few riding buddies together and achieve say 1000km and a few hundred quid donated for the charity.

If people are keen then perhaps a few could organise a local ride and act as organiser/ride leader? I'm happy to do this in my own area (west Kent)

The reason for this initial thread is to register interest in the idea and for people to make suggestions on how to organise and improve it. I think it would be good to do something positive to show our support for MRS and Eve, get some community spirit going, raise a few quid for a noble cause and get out on our bikes, what's not to like?

All comments and input welcome. Thanks

Thick Mike

Can I suggest using Mydonate rather than justgiving? Justgiving takes and admin fee and charges charities for registering, from £12.50 giftaided donation only £11.78 goes to the charity, whereas Mydonate means the charity gets £12.35 and don't have to pay to register.

Details are in this moneysavingexpert article:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family ... sing-sites

meanredspider

I was very happy to support this when DNH PM'd me about it. But this is about TCT and not Eve and me.

I've far more knowledge about Teenage Cancer Trust than any parent really deserves to because two of my kids have been treated on their wards. They do a brilliant job. Teenagers and young people aren't kids but they also aren't yet adults. In particular, adult cancer wards tend to be dominated by the elderly as cancer is most normally a disease of old age. They aren't the place for a teenager. But teenagers are also not kids - they understand their disease and their mortality.

From a clinical point of view, the cancers of teenagers tend to be of certain sorts: bone cancers (the growth spurt) and leukaemias are quite common. What that does mean is the doctors and nurses understand the chemotherapy and treatments involved in these diseases. They also understand teenagers and how to manage them.

From the social side, TCT provide wifi and spaces for the teenagers to interact on the ward, form friendships and share experiences. Cancer treatment is brutal and relentless - A.L.L. for instance can take 2 to 3 years to treat.

Surrounding all of this is all sorts of other support. Support for wigs when the young people lose their hair, support for benefits, critical mental health support (for both patients and parents), spaces for parents to meet and share experiences.

TCT wards, like any cancer ward, are an incredibly tough place to be. There are at least 3 patients being treated now that have a terminal prognosis. Cancer treatment is brutal: chemo is terrible and the side-effects potentially as dangerous as the cancer itself. Radiotherapy is really nasty and surgery, when it happens, tends to be radical. Eve and at least one other patient will be having a bone marrow transplant: over a week of super-chemo to destroy her own bone marrow then a month in a pressurised room whilst she develops some form of baby defence. She can expect it to be the rest of the year before she can be out in public. And she will need eggs to be harvested in order to preserve her chances of having a baby. It's not about Eve and, in fact, so far it has gone very well for her compared to many others.

Finally, TCT do a huge amount of education. They go into schools and explain to our children and grandchildren how best to avoid cancer and how to spot the signs of cancer. Given how many of us will experience cancer (half of us now?) this is vital. They provide loads of materials to help educate all of us. They also lobby government.

I hope that you will be able to support DNH's initiative. Even if you can't, please consider signing up for blood donations, Anthony Nolan bone marrow transplant register (you'll probably never do something so easy that will save someone's life - I wish I was young enough to do this), or giving to Macmillan or Clic Sargent or Cancer Research UK.

Thank you.

veronese68

Nice idea DNH, I'm up to do something.

tlw1

As my mother is chair of the local Macmillan I have no choice but do events for them, but up for paying to ride on a specific day for TCT

davesnothere

Thanks MRS

I've managed to recruit half a dozen participants already

davesnothere

Bump to gauge interest

Matthewfalle

Spot on idea and an utterly brilliant cause. Best thing apart from my posts that has been on here in a while.

I won't be around but send a link and I'll sling a few quid your way.

M

slowbike

you know what - I don't normally do charity rides - I don't mind donating to charities -but tend to steer clear of organised events.
20Km isn't any distance to worry about either - I like that it's short enough to get occaisional riders involved.

Count me in - and (weather dependant) I'll ride a 20km loop with my nearly 2yo on the back - just as a reminder of how bluddy precious life is. Depending on the dates I'll see if I can get nieces & nephew involved too.

Actually - you know what - I'll have a word with the mrs - she's a Breeze ride leader - so we can get some of the breeze riders on this too....

davesnothere

Slowbike wrote:

you know what - I don't normally do charity rides - I don't mind donating to charities -but tend to steer clear of organised events.
20Km isn't any distance to worry about either - I like that it's short enough to get occaisional riders involved.

Count me in - and (weather dependant) I'll ride a 20km loop with my nearly 2yo on the back - just as a reminder of how bluddy precious life is. Depending on the dates I'll see if I can get nieces & nephew involved too.

Actually - you know what - I'll have a word with the mrs - she's a Breeze ride leader - so we can get some of the breeze riders on this too....

Thanks slowbike. That was kind of the idea, rather than a big organised event people can do this ad hoc. The 20km distance means i can drag my kids round. Even the mountain bike fraternity might be able to manage that distance!