AFTER losing his parents within months of each other, a keen cyclist from Cuddington decided to complete the ultimate challenge to give back to those who cared for them in their final days.
Guy Groves took on the gruelling task of cycling almost 1,000 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in memory of his parents.
Guy, along with his friend Martin Cole from Whitegate, raised more than £6,000 during their 10-day adventure, which will be donated to the Christie Hospital in Manchester and the Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals Charity.
Louise Roberts, Guy’s partner, travelled with the pair in a ‘support van’ and was incredibly proud of their achievements – both to complete the distance and raise money and awareness for charities close to their hearts.
Explaining the idea for the fundraising cycle, she said while 2020 and 2021 had been awful for everyone, the Groves family had been hit with even more tragedy when Guy’s mum Rhona suffered an extremely rare spinal stroke.
Louise explained: “Ro was initially treated at Salford Royal Hospital and the plan was for her to be moved to a specialist spinal injuries centre in Southport for rehabilitation, but sadly she passed away five weeks later.”
And just seven months after that, the family was left heartbroken again when Guy’s dad Neil lost his courageous battle with cancer.
“He was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer in June 2018,” Louise said.
“Somehow, with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy treatment and the amazing care and support he received from Christie’s Hospital in Manchester, we were lucky enough to share an extra two years beyond his initial prognosis and for this we will be forever grateful.
“Guy decided he would like to do something in return, to raise some money in honour of Ro and Neil and to thank both Christies and Southport Spinal Injuries Centre for the incredible work and care that they deliver every day to families like ours.
“A keen cyclist and always looking for a challenge he decided to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats.”
The fundraising has been a huge success already, but if you would like to donate to Guy and Martin’s efforts, you can visit justgiving.com/team/GrobertsandColes?.
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