This September I will be joining a group of 40 cyclists to cycle from Venice to Rome in 4 days – a distance of over 700km with 25,660 ft of elevation - to raise money for One More City (OMC).

OMC is an annual fundraising campaign to raise funds to support research into secondary breast cancer. OMC has already raised over £400,000 to fund 3 PhD students through their research into secondary breast cancer. The target now is to raise £250,000 for a Clinical Research Fellow at the ICR to continue this research.

OMC was founded by my fellow cyclist - the truly inspirational Christine O'Connell - who is herself living with secondary Stage 4 Breast Cancer and who is also doing the ride. Every penny raised for through sponsorship goes to OMC - I cover all my own costs.

To say I am daunted and anxious is an understatement – I have never cycled 175km in one day let alone 4 days back to back. In addition, I suffer badly from vertigo making much of the terrain, mountain climbs and descents incredibly difficult for me. However, all these challenges do not even compare to those facing the challenge of a cancer diagnosis.

1 in 8 women will get breast cancer. Much of breast cancer awareness, campaigning and research are focused around prevention and detection in the case of primary cancer, as early diagnosis provides the best chance for survival. However, an estimated 20-30% of primary cancers, once seemingly cured, awake from dormancy and spread to other organs – this is termed secondary cancer and at this point the cancer is no longer curable. Why and how this happens is not known and more needs to be done to understand this dormancy, its treatment and its cure - this is what OMC raises money for.

Since it started OMC has completed 7 rides, cycling in total from London to Venice. Each year’s ride starts where the previous ride finished. The name One More City is akin to that of the journey of a cancer patient, its ethos is that the journey is never over. Whilst the route moves from one city to the next, challenging each rider to push themselves over difficult distances and terrain, it pays homage to the life of a cancer patient, faced with one more scan, one more chemotherapy session, one more consultant appointment and a new set of side effects to manage.

I have never asked for sponsorship for sports events as I never felt I was really challenging myself enough to justify it, however this is totally different. This ‘ride’ is taking me completely out of any comfort zone I have ever had. I only started cycling a couple of years ago when a dodgy hip prevented me running as much as I would like to. Over the last few months I have had a new hip, suddenly lost my lovely mother and got an all time consuming new puppy. It’s fair to say that both my rehab and training has been intermittent and has definitely not gone to plan - sleepless nights worrying about my lack of training are definitely not helping! Maybe I shouldn’t be doing the ride but then again cancer patients don’t have a choice, they have to keep going and face the next battle. So, on September 24th I am flying to Venice. If at all able, please sponsor me – every little helps. Your support can really make a difference and will definitely be an incentive for me to get up and down those hills and mountains, confront my vertigo (not look down?!) and simply keep pedalling!!