Hi All,

Chris is inching ever closer to Boston, having arrived in Erie, Pa yesterday. Today is his last rest day on the tour. Tomorrow he leaves Erie and over the next 8 days will ride across Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and finally Massachusetts. On June 29th he will dip Irma’s wheels into the Atlantic Ocean, exactly 49 days after he set off from Manhattan Beach, CA. As Chris and I talked about the ride leading up to the start, he only had one goal – to reach Boston having cycled EFI (every foot and inch). The great news is that this remains the goal, although he continues to take it one day at a time.

What I’ve always known about my Chris, and what has only been reinforced by seeing his approach to the WM diagnosis and the coast to coast ride, is that there is simply no give up in him, none! When he sets his mind to a goal, he achieves it. Sometimes those goals take a long time to knock off, like playing the top 100 courses in the world. Sometimes they are completed in 11 months, like this adventure! He always gets there in the end. I think some of his ‘never say die’ attitude is down to him being British, where the notion of ‘giving up’ is simply not in their DNA. Some of his approach is down to how he was raised by his Mum. Betty taught Chris (and his older brother Tim) everything they know – to be honest, kind, loyal and work hard at everything they do. They really are the best of her. I know that there is not a day that goes by that they are not immensely grateful she was their Mum! Today would have been her birthday, and while it’s immeasurably sad that she’s not been here to share in all of our lives the last 8 years, and is not here to see Chris see this goal through to its end, for sure she in there in spirit. She always has been. She would be so very proud of Chris.

With the support of so many of you we’ve raised almost $28,000 for research into Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) at Mayo Clinic. That number is quite extraordinary. We know all of the money will be put to good use by the world class team at Mayo, as they work to develop improved treatment options for WM and hopefully a cure, a cure for my Chris and for all those with WM. For those of you who have donated, you have our eternal gratitude. For those of you who haven’t please do it for my fella who ten months ago received a diagnosis for which no one is prepared. He took on a challenge that very few people complete in a year, to prove to himself that life does go on, and to demonstrate to other WM’ers that hope and fitness is a powerful ally. Having barely been on a bike for the last 20 years, he trained hard for 9 months. Remarkably, he is well on his way to finishing a bike ride that has covered nearly 3500 miles, crossed 16 states, and climbed more than 90,000 ft. He has stayed in every manner of budget hotel, drunk more chocolate milk than our Farkas nephews drink in a year, and has easily fallen into the tour schedule of ‘ride, eat, sleep, repeat’. If this superhuman effort isn’t worthy of support, I don’t know what is! It doesn’t matter how small or large a donation you make as it all adds up. Chris’s goal is to raise $50,000 (or about $14 for every mile he’s cycled) so dig deep peeps! Here is the donation link  https://lifewithedge.com/donate/.

 All the best,

Deirdre