Bloodwise is very close to my heart after an uncle I was very close to lost his battle with Lukemia at the age of 30. The first bone marrow transplant didn’t work but the second one did. Unfortunately the second round of treatment was too much for his organs to take.
He too didn’t listen too much to advice; we went skiing seven days after his first transplant and lived life to the full for those two years.
Done, all the best with the training and first and foremost, enjoy it. A very good friend of mine died when he was just 18 from Leukemia, often wonder what he would have made of himself.
Curto, I assume you’re in the SOuthampton area. If you want somebody to do the odd training ride with, get in touch. Won’t be doing any hundred milers but even if it was for part of your ride it might make it less of a grind.
Just one more quick update from me for the time being. Together we’ve raised nearly £4K inside 36 hours. That is way beyond what I thought would happen in 4 months and a huge credit to STWers.
It’s been interesting reading people’s own experiences on here – please keep sharing. I’ll be posting updates occasionally to let you all know how I’m getting on.
Thank you so much to all of you, this is going to make a difference.
Agree with jamj1974 – if it wasn’t for you, Curto, this wouldn’t have happened; your determination to honour your friend’s memory; your determination to make a difference; your willingness to push your body to extremes.
All ‘we’ have done is donate money and provide both words and offers of support.
I raise my hat to you – Chapeau!
Thanks for the kind words guys, it’s been a great week and makes the training in the dark and rain all worth it.
Scaredy/singletrackmind – thanks that would be awesome. I’ll post details of planned rides on here and we can work out if we can do some rides together and if anyone else from the Hants massif can join. Typically it’s 100km ish either new forest or South Downs, distances will be building up especially after the Southampton marathon in April when I’ll switch into bike phase of the training
It was an honour knowing Keith. I can remember running the Meon Valley plod with Keith and I believe you were running it as well IIRC. It absolutely chucked it down. Keith didn’t bat an eyelid just cracked on!
Yes i remember it well. K lent me his spare running smock which was literally what saved me from hypothermia that day. I’m doing it all over again later this month as part of my training – that will be emotional.
Coincidentally i have George and Oliver round for dinner tonight, G sends her love.
All well here thanks. Last year I finally married my long suffering other half after 19 yrs together! Still riding and doing the odd long distance stuff but not a patch on your challenge!
What is spooky is that I haven’t looked at STW for literally months, especially as I ride more road than dirt these days, but saw your post.
Absolutely right. That person has asked to remain anonymous and I respect that but i hope they know just how much that means to me, to Keith’s wife and everyone else who knew him. That said, the response of everybody on here has been unbelievable. Everybody who’s contributed, or just stopped what they’ve been doing for a minute to think about the sh1t that people with cancer have to go through, are all amazing.
I rode many times with Keith, mostly as part of a local group but occasionally just the two of us and never remember him grumbling about anything, not even my less than reliable sense of direction.
I last saw him 10 days before he died. Three of us went round that evening to say goodbye while we could and over a few beers we swapped news and Keith told us of the trials and tribulations he’d had dealing with bureaucracy in preparing for his own passing. He appeared to have taken the task on in the same way he planned for events or renovated his house. All or nothing. I got the impression he was perhaps being a little too thorough for George’s liking but that was Keith and he had obviously gone to great lengths to try and make the transition as smooth as possible for his family.
Mostly B, I think I may have met you very briefly that evening. I vaguely remember popping in.
Thanks to everyone who’s continued to support me on this.
Training going ok thanks. Cheeky half marathon before work this morning with some good sweet spot reps in there. Still concentrating on the running for now so not doing that much cycling.
