Leicester's left the building

Not the best of weekends it's fair to say. I could wax lyrically here for page upon page .... but the bottom line is,  Dad's condition deteriorated rapidly during Friday night and the devastation which is MND played its final card; Leicester passed away in his sleep at lunchtime on Saturday. Despite my realism to his health prospects, the end was swifter than I'd anticipated and was obviously a big shock. All a bit surreal at present; just feeling quite numb.

Both Nicki and I had decided to delay launching the link to our Just Giving site until nearer the time. However on reflection, there's probably no time like the present.

If you feel you are in a position to make a contribution, regardless how small, please click on the link:  http://www.justgiving.com/terryroberts23  it will make a difference.

More importantly we ask you to spare a few moments and click onto http://www.mndassociation.org/what-is-mnd/About-MND and learn more about the disease and the people who support those affected by it.

That's it for today I think. Good health folks.

The maps have now arrived ....

The maps have now arrived, so we can start to plan things in a bit more detail. Okay so in some respects I'd jumped the gun already. We planned to complete the ride west coast to east by some point on Day 3 and in order to achieve that, the logical solution was to try and go for an even split in terms of mileage:

Day 1 - Southport to Hadfield

Day 2 - Hadfield to Selby

Day 3 - Selby to Hornsea (and mission accomplished!)  

Barring not too many diversions and wrong turns, that's somewhere in the region of 217 miles.

Dilemma (probably the first of many).

Day One should see us cycle 84 miles. Ordinarily not a problem if it were all on-road for the duration; we've covered that sort of distance (and more) in the past. However the route takes in canal ways, old railway tracks and some off-road stuff, before beginning the climb which will see us reach the highest point of our C2C on Day Two. But just how quickly can we progress; have we bitten off more than we can chew for our first day; crucially can we make "base camp" by nightfall?  You'd think so, but having checked up on the experiences of a few other participants, a little bit of doubt started to set in. With that in mind, we have now decided to begin at first light from Southport. A tough, not to mention early, start, which will give us about thirteen hours riding time; more than enough, surely?  

Let's start at the beginning ......

Not quite sure when it first began for Dad. There was the time back in the winter of 2009 when he became confused and disorientated for a while and the GP thought he’d contracted a “virus” while holidaying in Spain. Then there was his increased distractibility when I tried to engage in conversation or maybe the struggle to put his point across as cogently as he used to.  The number of falls involving bangs to his head and their regularity was one of the bigger concerns of course, but their cause?  Dad getting unsteady on his feet, not paying attention to where he was going perhaps?  All stuff you could put down to old age and the march of Father Time you’d think?  Then there was the trouble swallowing food and more worryingly the choking on far too many occasions for comfort. The palsied appearance of his mouth; the slurred speech.  All definite alarm bells for sure, but as to making headway with the GP and a proper diagnosis, well that bit was a constant uphill struggle for Mum. Inevitably the swallowing problem resulted in a dramatic loss of weight; time for the dietician to be involved which I think was where things changed. A referral to a Neurology Consultant, at last a proper examination and analysis as to the cause of this alarming downturn in Dad’s health.

Deep down we all knew something was wrong and if we were honest, we all knew that things had gone sufficiently far that there was never going to be a return to the Dad we all grew up with. So, cut to the chase; the test results said Motor Neurone Disease, a devastating blow for Dad and the friends and family around him. No turning back, no spoonful of medicine to make it all better; we were talking terminal illness. The general medical consensus, three to five years from start to finish. Okay, Stephen Hawking has dodged that bullet for far longer, but this is the prognosis for most. We don’t truly know when it started, so we don’t really know when it will end now, just a case of enjoying the time we have together and making the best of things.

Reality.  No amount of money is going to change the inevitable for Dad and others currently in the same situation. Funds can help with palliative care, support networks and maybe, just maybe, ground breaking research which will at some point in the future, make a difference to someone else.  So what to do? Raise some cash on behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease Association seemed a logical step. Couple that with a desire to always push the parameters and go as far as I can on that bike of mine. Perhaps I could combine the two? 

So, fast forward from November to the present, and the launch of C2C4MND. On August 1^st  my partner Nicki and I will set off from Southport and ride West to East, coast to coast, to Hornsea; on the Trans Pennine Trail, averaging around seventy miles on and off road over two and a half days.  Okay it’s hardly LEJOG, but it’s the biggest cycle challenge (so far) for the pair of us, and if it means we raise money and awareness for the MNDA along the way, then it will all be worthwhile.

Over the coming months I’ll attempt to post blogs of our training, as ad hoc as I’m sure they will be; maybe even a few photos. And obviously on the ride itself, we plan to post pictures and journal pieces along the way. I’m sure it won’t be all plain sailing riding, but we’ll have some fun and hopefully anyone checking in on our progress will do too.

In the meantime if you do nothing else, please check out:
http://www.mndassociation.org/what-is-mnd/About-MND

A little closer to the time we’ll create  a “justgiving” link  you can also visit if you feel so moved. Your support as well as any spare cash, no matter how small will be much appreciated and will make a difference.

Cheers,

Tez