Peter Whyte

Why I'm riding Brisbane to Gold Coast for cancer research

On August 23 I'll be riding 100km from Brisbane to the Gold Coast to raise funds for cancer research and treatment. I've done this ride before — but this year I want to explain why it matters to me personally.

Cancer has taken people I love. My mother died of brain cancer, secondary to lung cancer. My uncle died of stomach cancer. My father-in-law — one of the finest people I've known — died of brain cancer. A close friend, a mother of two young children, died of breast cancer in her early forties. Another friend lost his life to melanoma. Another to brain cancer.

That's six people. Six people whose absence leaves a permanent gap.

I also have a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and is currently cancer-free. That word — currently — says everything about living with cancer's shadow even after treatment. The research that gives survivors a fighting chance is exactly what this fundraising supports.

I know I am not alone in being affected by cancer. I am sure you have a list of missing people also.

I'm riding 100km. A few hours on a bike. That's a small thing compared to what cancer patients and their families endure — the treatment, the uncertainty, the grief. But small things add up, and the research funded by donations like yours does make a difference. Treatments that didn't exist ten years ago are saving lives today. That progress doesn't happen without funding.

If you can contribute anything — $5, $50, $100 — I would be genuinely grateful. Not on my behalf, but on behalf of everyone who deserves better odds than cancer currently gives them.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for anything you can give.

Peter