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At the start of August, Tilo (17 yrs) and Tane (15 yrs) embarked on an epic cycle tour from their home in Wales across europe to Northern Italy (approx. 1600 KM). They originally planned only to cycle to South Germany, but during their trip, inspired by donations and messages of support, decided to extend the tour to cycle across Switzerland into Austria, Liechtenstein and finally over the Alps into Italy.

Background:

You hope as a parent that you can inspire your kids to challenge themselves and reach out to achieve something special in their lives. As they grow, you plant seeds of possibilities and hope that inspiration, inner confidence and motivation takes hold! We always held a glimmer of hope that our own previous cycle tours around Europe (in our 20s) might inspire them to try something similar, but we never really expected that they would want to undertake such a big cycle challenge off the bat!

It was Tane’s idea… he asked if it would be possible to cycle to Germany? We were taken aback at first and thought that he would probably forget the idea; but he persisted and kept asking us. We asked Tilo if he would be up for it and he immediately agreed!

…Ok, so now we had to seriously think it through! 🤔 We suggested a shorter route, starting in France - but Tane was adamant that it had to be from door to door (our home in Wales, UK to their father Bernie’s family home in the far south of Germany). …so what else could we do - we had to make this happen, otherwise another year would go by and who knows if both boys would still be interested in hanging out with us oldies, let alone embarking on such a trip with us!🤷‍♀️

Chosen charities:

We personally know two young girls whose lives have been massively impacted by ME and POTS and since starting this journey, have heard of several other young people suffering with one or both of these diseases. These two debilitating diseases affect so many more people across the UK, but despite this, they don’t seem to get much media attention. We realised that the boys’ cycle journey could provide the opportunity to raise money and awareness of these diseases and hopefully help these charities to improve the lives of all sufferers. 🤞💜

The boys are hoping to raise money and awareness for these two different charities:

* ME Association

* PoTS UK

Information about ME and POTS:

ME (Myalgic Encephalopathy), or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, blights the lives of 250,000 people in UK today. The smallest exertion can floor them; their joints and muscles ache unbearably; restful sleep eludes them; and ‘brain fog’ clouds their thinking. It changes lives drastically – disrupting study; making work impossible; and straining family relations to breaking point. Many sufferers cannot leave their homes. There is no known cure.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), also known as postural tachycardia syndrome, is a blood circulation disorder that causes a rapid increase in heart rate when standing up from a sitting or lying position. This increase is at least 30 beats per minute in adults and 40 beats per minute in adolescents within the first 10 minutes of standing. POTS is caused by problems with the autonomic nervous system, which controls automatic body functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Symptoms can include dizziness, weakness, fatigue, and fainting, and can range from mild to disabling.

POTS can affect people of any age, but is more common in young adult and adolescent females. Some people may find that changes to their daily routine can help ease symptoms, while others may need medication.

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