May 2022- please see our new Ride for MND challenge page here-

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rideformnd2022

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December 2020

Thank you to every single one of you who liked, shared, supported and importantly donated to our cause. I cannot beleive what we managed to acheive back in August and to date. Concidering my orgional target was £5000... to be at £150,000 (including GiftAid) is unreal, and totally humbling!  

With all of your help, I won Fundaiser of the Year with Cycling Weekly Magazine. Please watch this short clip with messages from the foundation & Doddie himself.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/cycling-weekly/fantastic-fundraiser-500-miles-in-four-days-and-150000-for-mnd-charity-486458

Our NC500 is complete but our Ride for MND continues.

Thank you and Merry Christmas,

Davy x

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WE ARE BACK ON! New dates are Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th of August. Cannot wait to get started but also increasingly nervous! Thank you to everyone who has supported through our campaign, we hope to do your generosity justice when we start pushing the pedals for MND next month.

It is important to take stock of how generous you have all been so far. THANK YOU ALL, but please please keep the support coming, together lets consign MND to the history books

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Every pound we raise, every pedal we push will go towards finding a cure and raising awareness for people living with this disease. People like me.

We had planned to set off in May 2020 to cycle the North Coast 500 mile loop in only 4 days to raise money and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease. However, Covid-19 has had its own agenda, we will re-book our 500 mile ride as soon as lockdown is lifted. We are itching to get going.

Please support us, by donating or sharing our story. Everypenny and pound is gladly and gratefully received! No sympathy please,just your money. 

If you would like to get in touch, please visit our Instagram account @rideformnd.

Together let’s consign MND to the history books. 

The disease degenerates your muscles, stripping you of control and mobility, trapping your active, untouched mind in a paralysed body. There are a lot of unknowns about the condition, but we do know that 50% of the people diagnosed with MND die within 2 years. There is currently no cure.

Every pound we raise, every pedal we push will go towards finding a cure and raising awareness for people living with this disease. People like me.

Myself, my twin Tommy Zyw, and friends Craig Paul, Dan Elswood, Malcolm Holwill, Tom Platt, Ryan Brennan are cycling the North Coast 500, attempting it in only 4 days. We are expecting horizontal rain, high winds, punctures, tears and lots of bananas over the route. We will climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest, circumnavigating Scotland’s remote northern coastline. This would be difficult for anyone, let alone someone with MND. Read my story below.

Please share this page, support us and donate.
Davy

I am 32, newlywed to an amazing wife, brother to four awesome bros, a keen cyclist and snowboarder. I am Wine Buyer for Berry Bros. & Rudd, the world's oldest and most famous wine merchant,  an Author to two books of Champagne & Sparkling wine. I have recently moved back home to Edinburgh after 10 years living in London. And, in 2018, I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

For those of you not familiar with MND (or ALS as the Americans call it), it is a bad one as diseases go. Incurable, degenerative and paralysing; it strips you of your nerve cells which control your motor function (the control of your muscles) which means your muscles waste away and can never be built up again. After you've lost control of your body, you usually die when your chests muscles simply don't have the strength to work your lungs anymore, or your lungs fill with fluid which you can't cough up. 

Wickedly, your mind remains intact to review the disease's progress before it finally gets you.

Comparatively, I am one of the lucky ones, I'm on the right side of the 50%: I've had the disease for almost 2 years and I'm not dead yet, so every day is a good day.

I live a life which I want to live, and I'm doing everything to slow the symptoms of my disease. I swear good wine, fresh air and activity are saving me. Apart from the emotional weight, my symptoms are a shake and wasting of muscles, chiefly in my left hand and arm, an overall lack of energy and progressive loss of function in my hand. My left hand is now so weak I can't squeeze a tube of toothpaste. I can now feel the same thing happening on my right side. So, if I calculate how quickly my decline was in my left hand, I reckon I have a couple of years of living 'normally' before I need daily help & care. 

It's fucking unlucky getting MND at any age, let alone when you are 30. But my youth helps, and I know from keeping fit and in a positive frame of mind is saving me from the worst of it. There is no point sulking, I'll end up missing the best days of my health. 

It’s been a difficult journey to get to today, where I have accepted my lot, and I am ready to share this with you all.

As we head toward the two-year anniversary since my diagnosis, I want to help drive awareness of this life-shattering disease and do my bit to help find a cure.  When I still have power in my legs, lead in my pecker and enough grip in my hands to hold my handlebars. My twin brother, some friends and I are going on a bike ride; we are cycling the North Coast 500. This epic 500-mile route takes us to the most beautiful, dramatic & remote corners of Scotland. On route, there are 10,000m of hills to climb, and we hope the wind will be at our backs, as we are going to do it in 4 days. Now, this would be fairly challenging without having MND, so wish me/us luck..!

We are fundraising for My Name'5 Doddie, a charity started by Scottish Rugby Legend Doddie Weir who was diagnosed just before me with the condition. His charity is doing amazing work, promoting awareness, funding research for a cure with the MND Association & MND Scotland; including the new MND-SMART drug trails which have just started. His charity is helping people like me, and their families to live their best lives.

No sympathy please, just your money!! Let’s consign MND to the history books.