Well this blog comes with an overwhelming sense of love for the people in our local community and an immense sense of pride in our children.  This weekend, we added over £700 to our fundraising total, with a Teddy Bear’s Picnic and children’s sponsored 10-mile bike ride.

Actually holding the picnic was a somewhat ‘touch and go’ for a while, as Nate (our little 4-year old), whose idea it was to hold the event, was sporting a 40+ temperature for the previous few days, and, although recovering, was tired to the point of distraction and spent the entire event glued to me or Matt, missing out on all of the fun.

We had the most amazing face-painter, Mike Choruschyj, who donated his time and talent totally free of charge.  There were cakes galore, including an incredible teddy bear’s picnic cake from Fay Lewis and more tasty cakes courtesy of my nieces.  Emma Shield & Kaisha Brown were our picnic makers extraordinaire, Sarah Thurley produced fabulous kiddy cocktails, Mel Richman & her mum knitted beautiful little teddy bears, my sister, Amanda, added her efficiency and creative flair & our mums helped and supported for some considerable time before the event as well as on the day.

We were 4 helpers down owing to illness and the remaining lovely girls (Maddy, Tilly, Flo, Caity, Fliss, Charlie & Yasmin) helping on the 15 stalls had to spread themselves thinly and work hard.  And boy did they come through for us! Each of them arrived amidst the mania of a last minute venue change owing to our wonderful English climate and were welcomed by a scene that was chaotic at best!

However, all was well and, with the odd hiccup, we were up and running enough for the 80+ people who came, to have fun and part with their hard-earned money. And part with it they did!  It will never cease to amaze me how generous the British public truly is and how supportive people are when faced with a heartfelt plea for a good cause.  I am not normally a desperately patriotic person, but by the end of this weekend, I can confidently say I am hugely proud to be British.

This fun and somewhat emotional event, was followed by a 10 mile-bike ride by our 7 year-old son Gabriel, his cousin Flo and friend Dan, supported and encouraged by cousins and friends and the fabulous Farmer & Mrs Pickles!  The kids were cycling up and down the mile-long country lane opposite our house, with a pit-stop provided by my mum and Matt’s mum at the top end of the track. Refreshments were given a boost (as was our fund) by the lovely Rachael Turner, who turned up to applaud the cyclists and hand out ice lollies at the halfway point.

It has to be said they all took this challenge completely in their stride…  Daniel set a punishing pace and hurtled his way up and down with determination, tacking on some extra distance at the end, just for fun; Flo took it all in her stride and comfortably completed the distance without even breaking a sweat and Gabriel, after a taxing start, discovered he was pedalling against the drag of a flat tyre, which was quickly re-inflated by Matt, resulting in his picking up pace to complete the challenge in style!  We were very proud of them all for a fun day and a £220 boost to the fund!

I can’t finish this part of the blog without a special mention for Fliss (Dan’s sister), who provided stirling support for the cyclists throughout, at points running alongside them for some considerable distance.  However, she doesn’t appear in our medal line-up as she had just had the most spectacular fall over the front of her bike and had gone home to have significant chunks of road removed from the wounds in her elbows.  We salute your bravery Fliss!

We were joined for the weekend by Tom and his family, who were bowled over by the level of support from all those who came and took part in these events.  They are a remarkable family, who are facing the most heart-wrenching and frankly terrifying future with their beautiful son.  They have actively immersed themselves in learning about his condition and are doing everything in their power to maximise his enjoyment of life now, at the same time as planning practically for the longer-term future.  They are both necessarily optimistic and realistic and accept that Tom is facing an uncertain time ahead.

But those involved heavily in research for Duchenne have made it clear that this generation of affected boys could be either the last generation to die from it, or the first to survive.  To maximise the chances of the latter being the case takes money, and lots of it.  But this starts with a single pound and this weekend people came and gave pounds by the bucket load.  It is the actions of exactly these kind of people, who are both incredibly generous and equally convinced that they can make a difference, that could change the future of this disease and the boys who suffer with it.  So, a very sincere thank you to you all. As Becky, Tom’s mum said yesterday: “If kindness could kill this disease, it would lie smashed into pieces”.