A father and his three friends are embarking on a mammoth cycle challenge to raise money for the hospital that is treating his three-year-old son for cancer.

Three year old Ethan Wells was diagnosed with leukaemia in August 2016 and has been recieving treatment at The Royal Marsden’s Oak Centre for Children and Young People.

Martin Wells, Ethan's dad said 'It's been a really difficult journey for us all but the treatment Ethan has recieved from the Royal Marsden have been incredible, the team have been so supportive throughout'. 

On Friday 21 July 2017, Martin will be joined by Dean Beckett, John Daly and Tim Caswell all from Walton on Thames, Surrey as they cycle 460 miles from Edinburgh to Walton-on-Thames in just 48 hours to raise money for The Royal Marsden. 

The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre.  The charity ensure their nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments as well as funding state-of-the-art equipmet, ground-breaking research and creating first class patient environments.

This is the fourth time that the group of friends, who call themselves the RRR Cycling Team, have teamed up to raise money for charity.

The Ronnie Remembrance ride (RRR) cycling team was launched in 2014 by Dean Beckett in memory of his father Ronnie. The last three years have seen them tackling three gruelling long distance cycle rides covering over 2,300 miles and raising a staggering £110,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Dean said: “We are so proud of what we have achieved for Macmillan but felt very strongly that we should thank The Royal Marsden for looking after little Ethan.” 

The team are training hard to prepare and are aiming to raise £10,000. They are asking the local community to support their fundraising as so many people have received care from The Royal Marsden. 

Martin added: “After last year’s ride we said ‘never again’ but following Ethan's treatment we decided to build on what we have achieved with RRR and show our gratitude for what the wonderful people at The Royal Marsden have done for my family".

Danielle Byrne, Community Fundraising Events Executive for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the RRR cycling team for their fundraising and wish them the best of luck with their challenge.”
 
To support the team visit the fundraising page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/DeansRRR2017

To follow the teams progress, see them on Facebook Ronnie Remembrance Ride, Twitter @rrrformarsden and Instagram @rrrformarsden

Article supplied by Nina Malyon