Hi,

Thanks for visiting our page!

We are a group of cyclists from Killinchy Cycling Club (and some friends!) who have decided to take on the challenge of the Belfast-Dublin-Belfast Maracycle to raise funds for the Hyperinsulinism Fund (SH16) charity at GOSH, whilst enjoying our favourite past-time ... cycling :)

This will be a challenge to a number of us, as some of us have never cycled anywhere near this number of miles in a week or even month, never mind in 2 days.

Ross and Pauline's 18 month old nephew, Ronan, recently had the daunting experience of spending 2 months in hospital, a month of which was spent in isolation in Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), leaving behind his big sister Phoebe and daddy over Christmas and New Year of 2012.  During this stay Ronan was diagonsed with a rare condition called Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI), which in very basic terms causes the pancreas to over produce Insulin, which in turn stops the body from producing enough glucose for the body, and in particular the brain.  As the brain depends on glucose for all functions, there is an increased risk of brain damage for children with CHI.  Ronan's condition is currently being controlled with medication, however there is a chance in the future that he may need surgery for a full or partial pancreas removal if the medication is not sufficient anymore.

CHI is thought to affect approximately 1 in 45000 children in the UK. 

For more information on the charity please visit http://www.hi-fund.org/ and to read more about our cycling club please visit www.killinchycc.co.uk or our facebook page Killinchy Cycling Club.

Lets hope we can raise lots of money for this charity and in doing so recognise all the work of the staff at GOSH, in particular for what they have done for Ronan, his big sister Phoebe, mummy Joanne and daddy Roger, and for them to have the funds to do the necessary research into this condition.

Thanks for taking the time to visit ourJustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.