A moment of reflection, another dose of reality

Clara White from Macmillan Cancer Support was kind enough to invite me to the press launch of what is known as em2ee; 5 actors from Emmerdale Farm who have trained to be able to cycle 224 miles from the Woolpack Inn (Emmerdale) to Queen Vic (East Enders), non-stop in 24 hours.

The event was held at The Loft in Leeds and the location was trendy, the audience trendier and the level of luvvie-factor was through the roof. I spotted 5 faces that seemed familiar, I assume from my married days when Emmerdale was a feature of most weekday evenings in the house (albeit NOT for me; more of a Camberwick Green man myself). I was so impressed by the set-up, assuming it was a standard MacMillan press launch, that I got my iPhone out and video'd the small reception room as the first guests arrived.

Apologies for both the darkness of the video (it was a dimly lit room; ambiance and mood setting I'm told) and the abrupt nature of the ending; someone 'asked' me not to take any photos as the organisers had an exclusive magazine deal.

Really? MacMillan are also striking exclusive magazine deals? Blimey I've GOT to get me some of those !! It was then I was informed that the whole set-up was primarily the product of the Emmerdale team and their professional network; MacMillan has been their chosen charity since their series producer died fairly suddenly at the age of 42.

The TV stars did their bit, big cheers from the lads with too many Peroni's or too much testosterone ... or both ... and polite hand claps from the young women in all sorts of male-attracting outfits. A lady from MacMillan pointed out some of the key facts including that on average 832 people would have found out today that they had cancer.

The 5 cyclists approached the stage and had laughter rippling around the room, mainly their own, and a Tour de France cyclist went on stage to be announced as a co-rider, but the room fell silent as James Golding, a cancer survivor and all-round challenge cyclist, told his story. A story you can't believe and it hasn't ended yet.

At 6' 4" tall, about 31 years of age, good physique and (evidently) 14 stone (~90kg) he looked the picture of health; a little bit 'Mark Wahlberg'. His story began (and apologies if I don't get this completely right as his story was one to listen to, not to takes notes of) in late 2008 when he was having back pains.

The medical professionals told him to take pain killers and sleeping tablets and he'd be fine but things just got worse. A couple of months later he was admitted to hospital and they discovered an 11cm tumor trapped between his spine, kidney and another vital organ.

Subsequent chemo had little effect and so with less than 5% chance of surviving the surgery he endured a 6-hour operation. Waking with two pipes in his left side, two in his right, one in his abdomen, one in his chest, one in his arm, one in his throat, one up his nose (to feed him) and one somewhere no man wants a pipe sticking, he weighed less than 6 stone (~40kg).

The surgery left his bowel damaged which required emergency surgery again as all his medication, food and liquid were 'falling out' into his body cavity.

His story of recovery continued over many months and he eventually had the strength to lift his own head off the pillow on his hospital bed, his first attempt at standing lasted for 5 seconds before he blacked out and he learned to walk again. He learned to ride a bike and did numerous cycling challenges, leading up to an audacious attempt to cycle from LA to Miami.

On his first attempt, as he cycled near New Orleans a truck hit him from behind at 70mph causing multiple rib fractures, a skid on the road surface of over 120 feet and much of the skin on his legs torn. Yet he made another recovery from this trauma and re-started the ride from LA several months later, completing the ride and raising £95 000.

James's story (click on this hyper-link)

Further cycling events took place and tonight James announced he had two more challenges in his sights; the first was riding with Team Emmerdale on this exciting adventure and the second is ....... 6 weeks ago he was told he had another tumor.

One woman stood near me was fighting back the tears, others simply stopped doing anything and everything as the room fell silent. Even gasps were not possible as his words revealed the reality of this amazing recovery held such a bitter twist. Hopefully it is not right at the end of the story, simply another chapter in an amazing fight by an amazing human being.

And so with that story came a memory for me; that of my Dad. Someone who seemed simply indestructible, someone who seemed to resist all life threw at him and fought cancer so bravely for nearly 6 years before it took him in its grip. Sleep well Pops, the pain is over and my fight to help in some small way to rid us all of the fear and pain of cancer begins.

Ken Major 1929 - 2010
http://youchangedmyworld.com/view_memorial.php?id=63