Husband cycles for wife's life: update
A few weeks ago we featured the story of Melanie and Charlie Jaggard who met on mysinglefriend.com back in 2007. Mel had recently been given the all clear from an extremely rare form of head cancer called Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC) when she and Charlie met; it was a whirlwind romance and they moved in together within six weeks of their first date. A year later, Charlie popped the question in front of the Notre Dame in Paris, and the fairy tale ending seemed inevitable.
However, six months before the wedding, at a routine scan, shadows were noticed in Mel’s lungs and they received the devastating news that the cancer had returned and that no further treatment was possible. Mel is now taking her ACC head on, and is determined to live life to the fullest. As a result, Mel and Charlie are delighted to be expecting twins in September and being the first known person with ACC to get pregnant, this is a step into the unknown for everyone, including Mel’s doctors.
No one supports research into ACC other than the sufferers themselves, so Charlie, along with a dedicated group of cycle enthusiasts, decided to get on his bike and cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise funding for research. The 11 day journey finished on 18th August and the team got in touch to tell us how it went.
"The ride went exceptionally well. There were some lows - the wettest 48 hours on record in Scotland, 7 punctures in one day for one particularly unfortunate rider, another rider devastated at having to pull out early due to injury, eleven long hours in the saddle on Day 10 - and I think all of the riders would admit to finding parts of it tough to varying degrees. However they all kept pedalling through the pain barrier, and at one point the sun was beaming down on 18 cyclists riding in formation, all decked out in the purple "Get A-head - End2End4ACC" gear, prompting a little lump in the throat for team leader Charlie.
There was a fantastic team spirit throughout the ride and lots of friends and family pitched up along the way to show their support over lunch, dinner or a pit stop. The riders and support crew were also touched by the support from the public along the route, giving a toot and a cheer at seeing the Purple Peloton racing through, or generously giving a donation to the collection bucket.
The final day provided beautiful sunshine to match the glorious smiles on the faces of all the riders and support crew, along with all the fabulous friends and family who turned up to cheer them into Land's End. There were some sore heads at breakfast following the Land's End revelry... however the smiles remained and everyone headed home with some incredible memories and a great sense of achievement."
The amount of money raised stands at £38,000 so there's still a little way to go to reach the £50,000 target. You can help Mel and Charlie raise awareness and funding for further research by supporting Charlie’s bike ride. Please visit their page here:
http://www.justgiving.com/end2end4acc
To go the main site click: mysinglefriend.com