Charity bikers give hope to brave mum

Oct 22 2007 by Robyn Skinner The Journal

A MOTHER with terminal cancer may be £5,000 closer to paying for treatments that could mean a few precious extra years with her little girl.

More than 30 colleagues, family and friends turned out for a 60-mile fundraising bike ride for Karen Gault, 43, on Saturday.

Karen, who suffers from bowel cancer, retired in September after 17 years as a health administrator when she discovered the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lungs.

Now Karen and her husband Paul, 48, have only one hope for her to see their daughter, Grace, for a few more years – a nine-part cancer treatment with the drug Avastin.

However the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has not approved Avastin for NHS doctors to prescribe.

Though the Gaults, who live in Jesmond, Newcastle, have appealed to their local health trust as an exceptional case, they fear the decision could come too late for Karen.

So Paul, an engineer for Design Services at Gateshead Council, turned to family and friends for help raising the £25,000 necessary.

And with the organisational skills of his colleague Terry Edwards, 51, also of Jesmond, Paul’s efforts to help his wife are closer to being realised.

Paul said yesterday: “There were about 35 people on the bike ride. It was a lot more than we thought. It was a good day and great fun. It did take longer than we thought, but as we talked on the way we think we figured out that between us all we raised four to five thousand pounds.”

Terry, who began organising the bike ride five weeks ago, had hoped to find a way to raise money that would include everyone.

He said: “We know Paul and we know Karen and we wanted to help the fund raising.

“We’re not really serious bike riders but we thought the 60 miles was manageable in a day. It was a great feeling of camaraderie along the route.”

Because the riders were council employees, or their spouses, the bike ride began and ended at the one place they had in common – Gateshead Civic Centre.

And even those who didn’t bike helped in some way.

Jill Turner, also a colleague, became the catering manager – providing sausage sandwiches, pie and chocolate to the hungry charity bikers at Marsden.

Others supported the efforts through generous pledges with one individual making a £500 contribution. And as the sun set and the last few arrived at the centre the day was overwhelmingly declared a success.

Terry and Paul said they would have to wait for the individual pledges to be collected, but they believed it was far more than the £1,000 expected.

Those funds should be enough for two of the nine treatments, so Paul says other small projects will be necessary.

Efforts from Paul and Karen’s family and friends have already included book exchanges, coffee mornings and anything else they can think of to help them hit their final £25,000 target.

Paul is also hoping to hold a pie and peas supper in February for one last fundraising event.

If you can help the Gaults’ fundraising efforts, Paul can be contacted on 0797 661 2270 or email: gaultpaul@hotmail.com