On 2 January 2010 my wife Samantha Shattock (Sam) suffered a cardiac arrest at the age of forty-one. As a result of her heart stopping for over forty minutes Sam has suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury. After time in hospital in both Peterborough and Lincoln Sam is now being cared for at The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) in Putney, SW London. Sam has been a patient at the RHN since May and is now receiving the very best in therapy, treatment and care. Despite Sam making some good progress since May she is still a long, long way from a full recovery. The realistic likelihood is that Sam will never come home.

Prior to January 2 Sam led a perfectly normal life. She worked, exercised, walked her dog and was a fantastic mum to our two teenage children. Although rare, a brain injury like Sam’s could happen to anyone, a result of a cardiac arrest, a brain haemorrhage brought on by stress or a road traffic accident.

The Yellow Beetle Challenge is to complete three BIG events in three continents within a twelve month period, and hopefully reach my fundraising target of raising £30,000 for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability.

The events are:

·         April 2011 – London to Paris Cycle Ride – on a fixed wheel bike (no gears, no freewheeling)

·         November 2011 – New York Marathon

·         March 2012 – Climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

As well as the above I also hope to complete a number of training events including three or four 10k runs, the Great Eastern half marathon, the Dragon Ride Cycle Sportive in Wales, the Dunwich Dynamo bike ride, complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks hill walk and climb Mt. Snowdon twice. 

It’s called The Yellow Beetle Challenge because Sam was known in our home town for driving her yellow VW Beetle.

So why? Well I need to do something or else I will go mad. This is my way of motivating myself and dealing with the life-changing events of 2010.

If you would like to get involved with The Yellow Beetle Challenge by participating in 1, 2 or all 3 of the main challenges or some of the training events please visit www.yellowbeetlechallenge.co.uk for more details

 Thank you for your support.

Mike

 

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