Between October 7th and 21st this year Neil Robertson of Kingswells will be undertaking a charity cycle the entire length of the UK from a place called John O’Groats (in the North East corner of Scotland) to Lands End (South West corner of England) with two of his brothers-in-law (Russell and Paul), in aid of two special causes.
The total distance they will be covering is around 938 miles (1,510km) over the course of 15 days. In total they will be climbing 13,628m – that’s the equivalent of stacking Mont Blanc on TOP of Mount Everest.
Neil is looking for sponsorship for this mammoth journey to help raise money for Arthritis Research and Takayasu’s Arteritis.
The two causes are very close to Neil and his brother-in-law;
The first is Arthritis Research.
His sister-in-law (her husband is one of the guys cycling with him) suffers from chronic advances arthritis. At the age of 23 Ruth had to have bones in her wrist surgically broken and pinned so that she can retain the use of her hands. At the moment she is still very mobile most days, but this condition only deteriorates with time. She is a VERY determined girl, and rarely lets this terrible affliction stop her doing what she wants. She is under constant medication to ease the pain and alleviate the symptoms. Many many more suffer this disease, and we want to help research for the causes of this and hopefully find a cure.
The second is incredibly rare. Takayasu’s Arteritis is a disease which affects mostly women in Asia, but there are cases affecting western people (men and women). Some, if detected soon enough survive but require strong medication.
This is a disorder that affect VERY few people in the world (2-3 cases worldwide per year per million people) which affects the arteries – basically killing the blood supply to vital organs. It’s a VERY hard disease to diagnose, and at the moment, the cause is entirely unknown. Without a known cause there is no cure.
On the 24th May 2005, Neil’s other sister-in-law’s (Kate’s) fiancé (Moylan Urquhart) was staying at their home. neil has known Moylan since he was 4 years old. In the early hours of that morning, Moylan fell ill to Takayasu’s Arteritis and collapsed. He had no pulse and was not breathing. Neil’s wife, her father and brother tried to revive him, giving him CPR for 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived. He was rushed to hospital by air ambulance but unfortunately Moylan died. He was 28 years old.
As this is such a rare disorder, it is not a registered charity and all research to the causes are funded through private donations. Every year we hold a charity football match in honour of Moylan where we raise money – so far we’ve been able to raise enough money to fund a part-time research nurse, so we’re helping!
Neil is hoping to raise money for these two special causes by doing this arduous cycle and hopes that the good people of Kingswells will donate a little money to present to the special causes.
Neil has set up a website which is;
www.johnogroats-landsend.co.uk
If you wish to make a donation please click the link and sponsor them using the DONATE button at the top.