On 7 July 2017, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. On that day, my life and the lives of Matt and my family, were completely turned upside down. I was admitted to hospital that night, and endured 7 months (save for some short breaks at home between rounds) in an isolation room at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, receiving treatment (including four rounds of gruelling chemotherapy and treatment to fight the numerous infections I contracted whilst my immune system took a beating). I was finally discharged in February 2018 and am currently in remission (keeping everything crossed that it stays that way!). Throughout treatment, I was determined to fight the awful, indiscriminate disease that is blood cancer, and to get well enough to go on to raise money for Cure Leukaemia, a small, local charity that has helped me and Matt through treatment, but also many, many other blood cancer patients. My sheer drive and determination has kept me going through treatment, together with my goal of cycling from London to Paris with my partner Matt in order to raise money for the charity so close to our hearts. Matt and I have not cycled before as adults and so are completely new to the sport. I have been training incredibly hard for this ride as I'm determined to complete it and to raise as much money as possible. My body is not the same as it was pre-cancer and I am battling many ailments which I have been left with since treatment, but my will power and drive is stronger than ever and with Matt by my side, I'm determined to do this, to give back to the charity that has helped and supported me and my family so very much and to help and hopefully inspire so many other blood cancer patients out there going through what I went through. The harsh reality is, that so many blood cancer patients will not survive treatment, I myself will not know whether I've been cured for several years yet, and so must continue to be checked every few months. We want to change this and work with the charity to completely eradicate blood cancer. Please help us do this by supporting our fundraising and sponsoring us to ride 500km this September, just seven months after my finishing treatment and being discharged from hospital. Thank you so very much from the both of us! Jen & Matt xxx   

Cure Leukaemia helps blood cancer patients to access pioneering drug and transplant treatments by funding a network of specialist research nurses across the UK. Without these nurses, to ensure patients are monitored and cared for, clinical trials of these new treatments would not run and patients, that have exhausted standard treatment options, would miss out on potentially lifesaving therapies. Every penny raised for Cure Leukaemia helps save lives and also hastens global progress towards the eradication of all forms of blood cancer.