Bloodwise Prudential RideLondon mascot writes letter of encouragement to riders
Melanie May | 6 July 2017 | News
The six-year-old Prudential RideLondon mascot for Bloodwise has written a letter of encouragement to the 600 riders taking part in the event on 30th July.
Daisy Williams from Birmingham is also a leukaemia patient and hopes her words of encouragement will spur the Prudential RideLondon riders on in their training and give a boost to their fundraising for the charity that helped save her life.
The letter is one in a series of motivational messages from Daisy, who has embraced her role as Bloodwise team mascot since March and has been sharing her tips on fundraising, training and preparing for the big day.
Daisy was chosen by the charity as the face of the event after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on 1st February 2014. She had developed a limp and extreme pain in her bones in August 2013 shortly before her third birthday. Despite showing several signs of childhood cancer, Daisy was misdiagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a condition that affects the nerves. By the time she was diagnosed with leukaemia her blood counts were so low that she almost died before treatment could start.
She underwent two and a half years of treatment, lost her hair twice and had to be fed through a tube for nine months before completing treatment in August 2016. She is now in remission.
Bloodwise has the largest charity team at this year’s Prudential RideLondon, taking place on Sunday 30th July.
Matt Lawley, head of sports at Bloodwise, said:
“Daisy’s story highlights the need to find less toxic treatments for blood cancer, as the side-effects she experienced are sadly all too common. We rely on fundraisers like those taking part in Prudential RideLondon to enable us to continue to fund the research into the disease which is the fifth most common and third biggest cancer killer.”
Birmingham is central to Bloodwise’s work, with £20million invested by the charity in 32 different blood cancer research projects and clinical drugs trials in the city, which help speed up access to new treatments for patients with leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.