"11 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery, seven months of chemo and radiation therapy, I was given the all clear. It was a relief but my family was not out of the woods.

The same year I beat my cancer, my cousin found out she had Leukaemia. More recently, she was also diagnosed with the dreaded Melanoma. Things weren’t looking good. I caught up with her a few months before the ride and she said she was ‘enjoying what life she had left’ as her prognosis wasn’t great. It made me want to do what I could to help her. And for me, that was raising money for cancer research.

The day after the ride, I saw my uncle, and he said that my cousin was on a new trial and it was working. She’d had the best test results she’d seen in 10 years. This brought tears to my eyes. And it made me think about the ride weekend! That is why I’d just sat on the bike for 2 days – because medical research is the only hope some of us have. And I want to live in hope.

So why the ride? Being a survivor, on my list of things to do after treatment was be a cancer fundraiser and the ride looked like something that would be hard but rewarding. My awesome grandson agreed to team up with me for this first year and we have signed up to do it again! What can I say, both of us saw this event as life changing in many ways. My advice to anyone who is thinking about signing up is to just do it!"

// SHELLEY S