Gabe, Flo & Dan’s cycling challenge

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Sunday 15th June 2014.

Our son Gabe, then 7 years old , his cousin Flo and his friend, Dan absolutely caned this 10 mile bike ride on Sunday.  They were cheered on by friends and family and given chocolate and drinks at a pitstop every 2 miles.  These kids are truly awesome and have raised in excess of £220!

Our 7 year-old son Gabriel, his cousin Flo and friend Dan, took on a 10-mile bike ride to raise money for Duchenne UK.  They were supported and encouraged by cousins, friends and the fabulous Farmer & Mrs Pickles on the cycle route in our village.  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!

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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 the weekend’s 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”.

Please give whatever you can to our worthy cause by visiting our justgiving page!  Just click on the JustGiving icon on the right-hand side of this page. (Scroll down if viewing on a mobile).

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Help us fundraise for The Duchenne Children's Trust.