By Patrick Jones
On the 9 September, I will be cycling from London to San Sebastian in Spain to raise money and awareness for Ruben’s Fund, a charity close to my heart.
It is in memory of our son Ruben, who passed away on the 12 January 2022 from cardiomyopathy, as a result of the rare genetic condition, GACI. He was three and a half months old.
Since losing him, my partner and I have pledged to support the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Charity in their efforts to research the genetic diagnosis of cardiomyopathy in children. We will be raising £200,000 to support a dedicated research project: so far, we have raised £137,000.00.
We have done many different fundraising initiatives since March 2022, when we launched Ruben’s Fund. However, I wanted to set myself a challenge this year, at around the time of what would have been Ruben’s second birthday. To honour his memory, I’m going to cycle from Ruben’s Hotel in London to San Sebastian, Spain. The journey will be linked to my two boys – Sebastian and Ruben – so it has a lot of meaning and emotion behind it.
The 1,019 km route will cover nine stops on route to Spain, which I hope to conclude within eight days.
I intend to bike pack the whole route unassisted, although I’ll be joined in some sections by fellow fund raisers to keep me company.
If you would like to support me in my endeavour, please follow this link to my fundraising page.
Thank you for taking your time to read, and for your continued support.
We will, with your help, reach our goal.
