Oliver Thorn

Ollie's page

Fundraising for Back Up
£4,697
raised of £3,500 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
Event: The Spinal Circuit, on 15 May 2020
The Spinal Circuit 2020
Campaign by Back Up (RCN 1072216)
The Spinal Circuit encourages you to walk, run, wheel, or cycle as one big Back Up team. We're challenging you to help us complete as many circuits around all 11 spinal units in the UK - 1,799km - as possible before Spinal Cord Injury awareness Day.

Story

I have somewhat stupidly agreed to cycle a virtual circuit around all 11 spinal units in the UK before spinal cord injury awarenss day on May the 15th. A circuit is a whopping 1,799km!

I will be using my indoor turbo trainer hooked up to my hand bike to simulate the distance. If anyone has been on a hand bike before, they will know this isn't going to be easy. Cycling with just my arms over 1,799km is going to be hard. I will have to average 35km a day.

As most people know, I sustained a spinal cord injury in 2012. I first came into contact with Back Up when I was still a patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. They taught me some basic wheelchair skills, but most imporatntly they started to build my confidence and self-belief after sustaining my spinal cord injuyr. They were also, more importantly for me, there for my family.

Back Up have had to stop all face to face support to those affected by spinal cord injuries and have increased our telephone virtual support.

Back Up relies heavily on events and challenge fundraising. The global Covid-19 health crisis has left Back Up rapidly adapting their work and facing a dramatic loss of income.

At a time when the charities need is higher, and fundraising is down, I'm doing what I can to raise as much needed funds for the charity.

The challenge begun on my first day of quarantine, Monday 23rd of March. 

I'll be posting weekly updates on my progress. Please give me some support and help me through and if you want to follow my daily cycles follow me on Strava.

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About the campaign

The Spinal Circuit encourages you to walk, run, wheel, or cycle as one big Back Up team. We're challenging you to help us complete as many circuits around all 11 spinal units in the UK - 1,799km - as possible before Spinal Cord Injury awareness Day.

About the charity

Back Up

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 1072216
Back Up services include mentoring, wheelchair skills training and activity courses as well as support in getting back to work or school after an injury. We provide peer led tailored support to help people adjust to a spinal cord injury and inspire independence and confidence for a positive future.

Donation summary

Total raised
£4,696.90
Online donations
£4,596.90
Offline donations
£100.00

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