“Adam’s Dash - The Dirty Sequel / Full Beard Experience!”

In July 2023 we go again! - a group of friends will be riding from London to Paris - 320 miles over 4 days - in the memory of a remarkable young man, Adam, who lost his valiant battle with a Brain Tumour 2 days before Christmas 2019 aged just 27.

One might think that the ideal starting-point for a London to Paris cycle challenge, is erm, London! However, this will be my 6th L2P since 2013, and so to persuade you to part with your money once again (but for amazing causes you’ll agree), I’ve added a twist for 2023 and will cycle to the start in Croydon and meet up with the rest of Team Adam - from Newcastle!! So, if you’re tiring of supporting my fundraising on London to Paris events, you can instead donate for Newcastle to Croydon, solo, unsupported - which is actually slightly further!!

Adam had taken up cycling just in 2014, and had ridden in two London to Paris cycle challenges himself, in 2014 and again 2015, making new friends in the process as well as raising money on both occasions for charity.

Adam was due to ride a third London to Paris the following year, the even tougher “24-hours” challenge (yes, it is what it says on the tin!), however.....

After 3 seizures in rapid succession one morning in early 2016, Adam was diagnosed with an Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma Brain Tumour and underwent brain surgery a few weeks later to remove as much of the mass as possible. The operation was successful in removing around 90% of the tumour, and Adam awoke around 3 hours after going into theatre, wanting a cuppa and some chips - Classic Adam!! A biopsy of removed tumour cells indicated that this was Stage 3 bordering on Stage 4.

Shortly after recovering from the surgery, Adam underwent an aggressive round of 30 radiotherapy treatment cycles, followed by chemotherapy. Successive MRI scans showed that the tumour had been stalled, and in early 2017 Adam returned to work, and embracing life.

Adam returned to good health generally, and his 3-monthly MRI scans appeared to show stability. In October 2017, Adam joined 43 others and headed out to the USA to take part in his latest fundraising event, an epic 5 day 350 mile cycle challenge from Cameron, Grand Canyon USA, to Las Vegas. Somewhat ironically, fundraising for Brain Tumour Research in memory of his grandmother Janet who was also taken too early at just 57, 15 years earlier.

Due to the surgery, radiotherapy & chemo treatments, he’d managed merely around 125 miles training before setting off on the challenge - not ideal, but he cycled double this on the event - an incredible achievement and a huge source of inspiration for many others on that ride. He kept the others entertained with both his dry sense of humour and equally his zest for life. His usual laid back attitude hiding a steely determination to get on with life and experience all that it had to offer, despite the hand he’d been dealt.

It was very fitting then that Adam led the peloton of 43 riders in to the finish, in Las Vegas, having raised enough to fund over 2 days’ research at one of BTR’s Centre of Excellence here in the UK.

Towards the end of 2018, Adam and his family were given the news that the tumour was again, and so whilst in with the consultant and without hesitation Adam asked to be booked-in for his 2nd craniotomy so it could be removed again. Following his 2nd operation, Adam began chemo again, and hopes were solely pinned on this treatment as more radiotherapy was not an option, but not before visiting one of BTR’s Centres of Excellence in London to place his fundraising tiles on their Wall of Hope, and see first-hand the work and research being conducted in the strive to discover a cure, that he himself had help fund through his challenge & donations.

Fast forward to 2019 and on a wonderful, sunny day in June Adam was married in front of friends and family, all beaming smiles and achieving yet another of the goals he’d set.

Sadly, just a few months after that wonderful day, Adam was given the news that the chemo was not proving effective and further surgery was not an option: the tumour had taken too strong a hold. There was nothing else that could be done. Adam bravely decided later that same day, his 27th birthday no less, to go into Marie Curie Hospice Newcastle, where the amazing team there cared for him during the time he had left.

Not once in almost 4 years, had Adam complained, felt sorry for himself, or questioned “why me” - he simply got on with staying positive and fighting this awful disease that remains the single biggest cause of cancer-related deaths in the under 40’s, yet receives merely 1% of all cancer funding.

Adam was a very likeable and pleasant young man, and he maintained a strong determination and positive mental attitude right from the start of his dreadful diagnosis. His continued bravery and courage despite the forward prognosis of his tumour, should continue to inspire us all, Every. Single. Day....

And so we will ride (again!) for four days between those two iconic cities as Adam had done before, and we’ll ride in his memory, sharing our stories and memories of him as we retrace his own wheel tracks and pedal strokes. We’ll smile as we think of him looking-down on us and “taking the micky” out of us as we puff and pant, lumbering up the hills - including one that he actually rode all the way back down to the bottom so he could climb again, on his 2015 challenge! We will celebrate Adam’s all too brief life, and aim to raise loads of vital funds for two charities so important to Adam & his loved ones - Brain Tumour Research and Marie Curie Hospice Newcastle - BTR to keep “Funding the Fight”, striving for a cure, and MCHN so that another family's loved-one may be supported and cared-for by the wonderful team there.

Adam was the bravest, most courageous person I’ve ever known, and I’m honoured to be his dad.

Below are some facts and figures about brain tumours that show that there is still much to be done:

• Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer
• Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has historically been allocated to this devastating disease
• Approximately 16,000 people each year are diagnosed with a brain tumour
• Fewer than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers
• Unlike most other cancers, incidences of and deaths from brain tumours are rising....

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