Raising money for Cancer

Vouching to never do a stage race again they are strangely addictive. So here I am about to embark on “Rumble in the Jungle” in Sri Lanka in June this year. For the first time, I will also be cycling with a work colleague and friend to help share the pain!! Dan Stauthamer a cycling rookie but some “twenty years” my junior is also racing with me.

I am told the race is one of the world’s toughest adventures, on one of the world’s most idyllic islands. The intense heat, humid jungles and over 7,000 meters of climbing up steep gradients make this mountain bike race incredibly challenging. Using GPS navigation riders will need to negotiate rarely traveled off road trails of mud, sand and bone clattering rocky descents, wade across rivers waist deep and ride through dense jungle, which is home to wild elephants, leopards, blood sucking leeches, deadly snakes, poisonous spiders and other biting insects that can cause you serious harm. Not forgetting the humble Mosquito that carries malaria and dengue fever is also rife. Yikes!! In case of a falling coconut or jack fruit Dan and I will be wearing cycle helmets!!

As in past races, stubbornness with a purpose is what gets me to the finish line and now I also have the lessons learned from last year’s Mongolia Bike Challenge.

So, what’s the main purpose? Whilst I cycle to keep my mind, heart and muscles in shape these challenges are not about me. I use them as a platform to raise money for Cancer research and support. For the past four years, I have set myself a personal challenge mostly to raise money for Cancer. In total, I have raised $30,000 and can't thank you all enough for making donations to my chosen charities to help save lives. With this being my last year in the UAE I would like to continue to support a local cancer charity in Friends if Cancer Patients (FoCP) but with a more tangible result.

My inspiration this year is a little eight-year-old girl called Sara Sharif Mohmoud who is suffering with a rare strain of Leukemia. Please read Sara’s heart breaking story https://www.thenational.ae/uae/health/father-in-sharjah-will-stop-at-nothing-to-help-cancer-stricken-daughter. The quotes from Sara’s father will likely put tears in your eyes and most heart breaking for me was..."I never thought that something like this could affect my little girl. I do not know what the future will bring, but all I know is that I will do whatever it takes to save my little daughter," he said...”.

The good news is I am advised that Sara is now receiving treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas but is severely underfunded for her expensive and intensive treatment. FoCP the same cancer charity I raised $10,000 for last year have agreed to let me use their platform to support Sara and her parents get through this Cancer ordeal and other needy cases. For more information on the great work that FoCP does please visit their website website https://www.focp.ae/

I will be extremely grateful for your support. Please read my full story at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Neil-Reynolds12

Your donations, no matter how big or small will encourage Dan and I get up the steep gradients and help FoCP support little Sara and even more people living with cancer.

Take care,

Neil