THE CHAIRMAN of Cure Leukaemia is to join a peloton of Paris bound cyclists to raise money to fund specialist research nurses and clinical roles at blood cancer centres across the UK.
Geoff Cousins, former Jaguar UK managing director from Stratford, will be one of 135 riders taking on the challenge in this year’s London 2 Paris charity bike ride.
The four day ride will set off from London on June 16 on the 500km journey to the French capital.
Having taken part in the charity ride in 2021, Geoff received a wave of generosity, raising £5,000 for the charity while the overall amount raised by riders reached over a staggering £100,000.
Geoff has a particular reason for supporting the cancer charity Cure Leukaemia as he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2005.
Around 38,000 people are diagnosed with a form of blood cancer every year, a figure that equates to one every 14 minutes. The rate of survival for many adults with blood cancers is still less than 50 per cent, with around 14,000 people dying each year in Britain alone.
Geoff said: “Cure Leukaemia is an incredibly vital charity doing ground-breaking work to give patients access to blood cancer treatments that could potentially save their lives.
“When I signed up for the London 2 Paris event last year, I didn’t even own a bike but I knew this is something that I needed to get involved with because the cause is something that is very personal to myself and my loved ones.
“The journey to Paris was a real challenge and very tough, there’s been a significant amount of time and training every rider has put into preparing for this, but in the end, it really is the Cure Leukaemia family that gets you through those tough times.
“The ride is one of Cure Leukaemia’s most popular major fund-raising events and I would urge anyone who can make a donation to please do so, as each and every donation will be going towards helping people receive pioneering, life-saving treatments.”
To make a donation through Geoff’s JustGiving page, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/geoff-cousins1
For more information about Cure Leukaemia, visit www.cureleukaemia.co.uk/
For details on the London 2 Paris bike ride, visit www.l2prevolution.com/
