“The big C” had always been a word that scared me – my late mother sadly passed away when I was 6 years old, and knowing that when I had it reminded me of its potency – not just to individuals, but to families.

Over the next two years I underwent surgery to remove the tumours on my neck an intensive chemotherapy course for the ones in my chest.

 

I moved to and fro between the Royal Marsden and Kingston Hospital, where Momentum had only really just started.

 

One of the worst things was being in containment – when your immune system is so low that you could be put at risk from a minor infection, you are essentially put in a sanitised room until your bloods improve. You can be in there for weeks on end without really being able to leave one room, or the relative ‘infection safe’ zone safety of the hospital ward. Of course, family and friends are allowed to visit, but only if they aren’t ill themselves.

 

Momentum were able to provide me with all sorts of entertainment when I was at Kingston – I could request pretty much anything (within reason, of course) and spent hours watching Simpsons DVDs and reading books when I wasn’t sleeping… or doing schoolwork (cough).

 

That was around 5 years ago now, and luckily I stand before you cancer free having beaten the disease that my mother sadly succumbed to all those years ago. Momentum has changed vastly since then – when I was at Kingston, it was a very small charity, but with generous donations from the public it has grown – that video showed some good examples of the work they do now, and the help they give to families with children affected by cancer.

 

Naturally, I wanted to give something back to Momentum – for what they did for me, and the massive amount of support that they continue to give today. Call me and my friends mad (because I certainly think we are), but in July this year we’re cycling from Lands End in Cornwall to John O Groats in Scotland, covering the entirety of Britain, and estimated at just over 1000 miles (since there is no official route). We will be staying in youth hostels where possible, and camping (weather permitting) where not.

 

We’ll be burning around 5-6000 calories and drinking around 6 litres of water a day to cover that distance. We aim to spend about 6-7 hrs a day in the saddle and the rest of the time sleeping! Our support car will do everything for us, so all we will have to do is cycle, sleep, eat and drink.

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