My reasons for doing this are below, but to summarise, I have taken on a challenge to cycle from Machu Picchu in Peru to the Amazon. I am doing this to raise £5000 to help the great people at Breast Cancer Care. It was people like this who helped my mum at the most difficult time of her life when she had breast cancer. They continue to help others in similar situations every day. They cannot do it without our help.

 

If you have known someone who has been through this then you will understand why I am doing this and I ask for your support in any way you can so that we can help others too. If you have been lucky enough not to have had experience with this then I ask you to read on.

 

You know that feeling when you can see there’s something on your mum’s mind and you know she’s not telling you what it is, to protect you, so you don’t have to worry too.

 

That’s what mum’s do. They protect you. They do this for the whole time they are around from the moment you are born. They care more about you than they do for themselves and this never stops. Even when you become an adult and can deal with all of life’s problems, they still try to protect you, they can’t help it.

 

I knew there was something serious on my mum’s mind in the time leading up to the moment she told us. In fact, she didn’t actually tell us. She couldn’t. On the day we were told, she sat on the living room sofa with the most scared and vulnerable looking face I had ever seen on her. She was on the brink of tears. This shocked me and it scared me. That moment when someone says they have something to tell you and you know it’s not going to be good, you think the worst. You hope it’s not the worst. But this time it was. I have never wanted to hug her so much. Dave, her husband, finally said the word which every person dreds hearing in that situation, cancer. My mum broke down into tears uncontrollably, she was so scared.  

 

I could write pages on what went through my mind at that very moment. Everything that really matters in life crystallises into a very clear perspective whilst, at the very same time, your heart is almost jumping out of your body.

 

My brother and I hugged our mum, kissed her and held her hand so tightly, it is a moment I will never forget. My brother was crying and I was fighting back the tears with all my strength and telling her it was going to be ok. I didn’t want to make her, or my brother, more scared than they already were. I cried a lot later. Crying is a shock when you haven’t cried in so long.

 

Dave in his usual calm manner, carefully explained to us what had happened, what was going to happen and what might happen. Mum was so scared, she was crying and her hands were shaking even as we held them and hugged her. Holding her and hugging her didn’t feel like enough, I couldn’t bear seeing her so scared, it wasn’t fair, I kept thinking ‘what can I do, what can I do’. But you can’t do anything. All you can do is be there. All you can do is make a promise with yourself that you will be the strongest for her during this and give her every ounce of positivity you have in you.

 

That was the last time I saw my mum so scared. Ever since that moment she has been the most amazing person I have ever known. She was before. I just didn’t know I knew it. She has shined throughout it, literally shined, and I know that’s not for herself, but for all of us. That’s what mums do. That’s what parents do. That’s what people who love each other do. It’s love when you care about someone else more than yourself. It can’t be anything else.

 

My mum is now hopefully free of this once scary word, cancer, although she won’t get the all clear for 5 years but she is already on her way to year 3. She went for her first treatment at her hospital not knowing what the outcome would be and her challenge began. Being with her as she bravely wore a freezing ice cold cycle type helmet for hours on end during chemotherapy, to reduce the risk of losing her hair, made me intensely, intensely, sad, but equally proud. I knew she did that for us to make things as normal as possible. But walking into a room on occasions, as the months went on, and catching her sat on the sofa looking down at her hairbrush full of her hair, was heart breaking.

 

Seeing her face light up with joy as countless friends turned up with flowers and cards for her, spoke to her, spent time with her and were just there for her was an amazing thing to see. Seeing her try to hide her disappointment when some people seemed to disappear when things started looking better, was sad. It was sad because she wasn’t feeling better. I’d like to say that this made my mum realise who the people who really mattered were but it’s not a time when you can look at things so logically, she’s not a robot. Nobody is. She went through such an emotional battle as well as physical.

 

But my mum got better, she got through the illnesses, the treatments, the emotion, the unknown and the fear.

 

All of her hair which she lost decided to return to her head as you can see, who can blame it! She was here to welcome her first grandson, Eddie, into the world and I’m sure that beautiful little man had a lot to do with her strength during her treatment even if he was just sitting around in his mummy’s tummy for nine months. He is now rewarding her by being her new best friend as you can see in the photo.

 

I want to thank all of my mum’s truly amazing friends and family, they will no doubt be amongst the donators on this page and you really, really, have done more than enough already but who am I to stop you helping others.  You may not get thanks directly from those other people but my mum is so lucky and she knows that and will never forget what you have done for her.

 

I want to thank Dave her husband too. He was amazing. Mum needed calm, positive, reliable and supportive and Dave gave all this tirelessly.

 

Mum now works at the hospital which treated her so well and sometimes she is asked about her experiences and to share her thoughts on things such as using the cold cap I mentioned earlier. She has turned a negative into the most positive thing and I’m so proud to be her son.  I have no doubt that she is making such a scary time a easier for other people just like the charity I am doing this for does, Breast Cancer Care.

 

My story is not unique, I know this, I know that we are lucky that my mum is still here. I know I’m not the only person who has had a loved one go through this, but this is WHY I am doing this. I want to show how truly grateful I am to these people who have helped my mum and also want to give them the ability to be able to do such wonderful things for other people’s mums, sisters and daughters.

 

My mum is truly amazing. She is. All mums are. This is for her and them.

 

So I am going to start 10 months of training and will cycle from Machu Picchu to the Amazon next September.  It will be over 300km in distance at very high altitudes on very rocky roads and tracks, mostly in the Andes mountain range. The total ascent will be over 2000m and the descent will be over 5000m. Mountain bike descents are not easy on rocky roads, sometimes on roads which hug the edges of giant cliffs and on some of the most dangerous roads in the world. So the 5000m is not simply just free-wheeling, I’ll need to include upper body strength into my training. I’ve been told that I’ll actually end up looking forward to the climbs. I’ve also been told that this is the toughest cycling challenge which they have. So please show your support and take this opportunity to support people who are currently going through what my mum did or people who may have to go through it in the future.

 

I hope you can find it in your heart to support what I am doing for this charity. I know I’m writing this at Christmas which is probably not the best of time to do it. You all have Christmas presents to buy but please save a little for people who may be wondering if they will be around to buy presents next year. Have a think of how that feeling, feels.

 

I could tell you what a £5 donation would mean, it would teach someone about breast cancer awareness. A £10 donation would provide an information pack for sufferers and their families and I could tell you that £24 would enable someone to talk directly to someone about any questions or worries they have about Breast Cancer. But you shouldn’t think of it like that because when you donate you become part of a team of donators on this page who all combine to create the most amazing support for some people who are going through the most fearful time of their entire lives! 

 

So please, PLEASE, dig deep and give generously, you may never know how much it means to the people it helps directly but I can guarantee that it will mean a lot to me and my family at the very, very least.

 

Thanks very much for reading my story.

 

Chris

 

Love you mum x