Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Here’s something I don’t share with many people, but if I am going to raise money for the male cancer charity ‘Orchid’ through riding the Prudential Ride London 100 I should explain my choice of charity.

At the ripe old age of 22 years old I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After seeing my GP, the diagnosis was confirmed by a consultant at Lewisham hospital using the high tech approach of shining a torch through my right testicle!  It was 1987. That evening I had the horrible task of phoning my parents to tell them that I had cancer. Not an easy thing to do! Even the thought of this still affects me now.

I had an operation at 8am the next morning and after a short recovery period, I started a series of scans to assess the extent of the cancer, one of which involved injecting blue poppy seed dye into my lymph system via the nodes in my feet over a period of 4 hours......which caused me to have bright blue wee and poo for some time after – good pub stories.

The biopsy of the tumour confirmed the cancer as malignant stage 3 – it wasn’t good news. Fortunately however, the multiple scans confirmed no detectable secondary tumours, but there was a need for some further treatment. I started a 6 week period of intense radiotherapy at Guy’s Hospital that focussed on my pelvis, abdomen and sternum, with a double dose on Fridays just to make me feel good about the weekend.

Dealing with cancer at any age is difficult. It affects who you are, what you think and how you feel, every day for the rest of your life. I consider myself lucky. I had good friends, a supportive family and workplace. I survived to get the opportunity to study at Cambridge, have children and eventually work on the development of drugs that fight cancer.

I have decided to make ‘Orchid’ my preferred charity and I will work to raise funds to help others suffering from male specific cancers. Testicular cancer effects very young men and spreads fast. If diagnosed early, the majority survive to live full lives. Please donate to help me get through the course and others to live longer, fuller lives.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.