“I think it creates some kind of conspiracy,” Kev Griffith explains of his philanthropy cancer my ass. “My theory is that hopefully this isn’t just a standard bike ride and anyone can go on it.”
The industry veteran and member of two of Britain’s most historic cycling families – the Swinnertons and the Griffiths – launched the initiative this year after discovering his cancer had returned and was now terminal. charity.
The idea is simple, raise money from the cycling community and further afield with a challenge: stay out of the saddle for as long as possible. To date it has raised over £35,000 for various cancer charities, but that’s not the end yet.
“I’ve always wanted to do something for charity, but I knew that if I couldn’t recover and regain full health, I would never be able to do anything extraordinary on my own to encourage people to donate to the cause,” he said.
“I’m not dissing anyone who raises £200, £500 or whatever. But I wanted to do something bigger than that. I thought I could use my connections, my connections, and do something that would get more people involved , making things more meaningful.” Attracting and encouraging people to participate and donate, that’s the challenge. “
As the charity’s website reads: “I’m calling on family, friends and cyclists everywhere to ride – not in the saddle. This challenge isn’t just about raising money; it’s about showing, No matter the obstacles, the human spirit is resilient and hopeful.
“Four and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with a tumor in my intestines, my colon,” Griffith said. continuous wave his condition. “After the first surgery went well, they scanned me again 12 months later and found the cancer had spread to both lungs, so they took sections out of both lungs and gave me radiotherapy and chemotherapy to clear it up. This year They scanned me again and they found the cancer was back again in my pelvis and both lungs.
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“I’ve been undergoing chemotherapy most of the time since April and have had 25 rounds of radiation. Hopefully they can shrink the tumor in my pelvis, which is my biggest worry. As I have all my life, these days, before I move into the next Before the stage, I was waiting for test results and I already had a permanent stoma, so the idea of sitting on a bike wasn’t appealing. ”
Griffiths founded BikeZaar, an online platform that unites independent bike dealers, after working in the industry for many years and seeking to use his connections to boost his charity’s profile.
The name Cancer My Ass is pretty stark, but Griffiths explains the reasoning behind it: “All the feedback has been amazing and everyone said it needed a name like this to stand out and become a talking point.
“We have a lot of events lined up. Hopefully there will be more challenges to come and I hope the brand can continue, whether it’s me or not.”
As for the challenge itself, it’s one that Griffiths, and everyone seems to struggle with: “When I try to do this, it feels more intense in my upper body. When you ask anyone how far they can go, that’s a Interesting challenge, no one really knows, a few of us have done it over 20 miles and one of the guys actually took his saddle out, which I think is a little crazy because if you do need to sit pretty fast… …
“I thought it would be nice to have something fun and engaging. It’s about getting people on the bike and remembering how much fun it was, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Donate, learn more or join Cancer My Ass access cancermyarse.co.uk.
