Cancer destroys the lives of those who have the misfortune to suffer from the disease, and it can wreck the lives of those closest to them. This is never truer than with childhood cancer. And the biggest cause of death from childhood cancers are brain tumours.

As a parent I cannot begin to imagine how distressing a childhood brain tumour must be. Yet, engaging with parents and their children is uplifting. The courage and dignity with which they deal with such a devastating disease is quite extraordinary. Moreover, their single minded commitment to make sacrifices to help others in a similar position is inspiring.

That is why I will cycle 1,400 miles for the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTR).

CBTR pioneers both fundamental and clinical research to improve diagnosis, intervention and care. Its expertise and delivery are pretty well unmatched and I want to see it do even more to change the life chances of children diagnosed with brain tumours.

There will also be a personal dimension to this challenge: Sam White.

Sam and his parents Pam and Mike were told he had a brain tumour in 2009. He underwent many operations and subsequent chemotherapy, but lost his battle in September last year. Throughout the final three and a half years of his life he made sure he did big fun things like carrying the Olympic torch and sailing with Dame Ellen MacArthur. But alongside that, and despite the demands of more or less constant therapy, he worked tirelessly and cheerfully to raise awareness of children’s brain tumours and to raise funds to help others. He was a remarkable boy.

I will ride my 1,400 miles around the four corners of Great Britain in Sam’s honour.

Thank you for supporting me in any way you can.

Follow the team's journey on Twitter @UoNLifeCycle and on the Vice-Chancellor's blog: 

http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/lifecycle/