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And the Indians are where exactly?
A few days ago I received a call from the UK asking if I could help find some bicycles to rent for a charity ride taking place this week on the French Riviera. The Registered Charity in question was Sugar Free and one of their major methods of raising funds is through sponsored cycle rides. It was originally formed approximately 20 years ago by six families whose children were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Over a period of the past four years their committee has made direct charitable donations of £80,000 to the Royal Free Hospital to assist in their research programme regarding Islet Cell Transplant.
The Islets of Langerhans are the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin and are defective or destroyed in Type 1 (also known as Juvenile Onset Diabetes). The hospital has successfully undertaken five transplants over the past four years. This is still very leading edge medical treatment as less than 500 such transplants have been carried out worldwide. As luck would have it, after a few calls I managed to arrange everything and went to pick up the bikes yesterday and brought them to Nice airport this morning: the charity ride's starting point. From the airport the group were to cycle to Fréjus today, then across to le Lavandou tomorrow, and end their ride on Friday in St Tropez. I found them extremely brave as I know the terrain very well and, while it's truly scenic and devastatingly beautiful, it comes complete with hills and winding roads made crueller still by a hot Mediterranean sun forecast until well into next week. Bidding them all a safe and successful journey, I drove off promising to meet them on Friday in St Tropez to pick up their bikes. I have a feeling I'll find them all very brown, incredibly tired, but utterly exhilerated by their accomplishment. I shall let you know. PS. Nigel has just read my Blog and said that this is one of the most serious I've ever written and not very chatty, which is true. But I admire people who undertake something extra special and go that extra mile for a very worthy cause. |
