A year ago, my brothers and I started planning a bike ride for my milestone birthday this August. We planned to cycle from Geneva (where I live) to Nice (where they live) to celebrate with friends. However, in November 2024 our lives were turned upside down when my lovely brother-in-law Christiaan was admitted to L'Archet hospital Nice with suspected pancreatitis caused by a gallstone. By the time he was admitted there was already significant damage to his kidneys, lungs, heart and two days later he was in placed into a medically induced coma to manage his life-threatening complications. He remained in and out of the coma for several months, and left hospital for nursing care at home only after 6 months. Two months into Christiaan’s ICU stay our adorable Mum announced that she had found a lump in her breast and needed to have a lumpectomy and radiation for breast cancer. Mum was super vigilant in checking herself and was treated quickly by the NHS. The Macmillan nurses also gave her such great care that she was able to deal with it with such stoicism knowing she was in the best hands possible. It’s been a tough 8 months, and whilst Christiaan is still not well enough to jump on his bike, Rich and I are, and so on the 28th of July we will do the six-day bike ride we planned with the added incentive of raising money for Macmillan Cancer https://www.macmillan.org.uk/ and the French Pancreas Club which funds research into pancreatitis. https://clubfrancaispancreas.fr/. It won’t be an easy ride! Not only are the French Alps directly between Geneva and Nice meaning some significant climbs over the 500km, but as we’ve spent much of the last 8 months at the ICU in Nice, we’ve had very little time to train. That’s why I would love to ask for your support for these two deserving charities. They have both helped our family in immeasurable ways and I would like to be able to share any donations you are kind enough to give between them. *Macmillan Cancer Support French Pancreatic Club I am using LFEBridge as it is the only place where I am able to chose to split the money raised between the two charities.
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