A change of plan
Adios South America, Hello USA!
The plan was always to travel right the way round South America but I’m afraid an offer has been made that is just too good to refuse.
I have been asked to take part in a 2 day, 140 mile bike ride across the state of Connecticut in the USA in support of The Hole in the Wall gang camp. The ride is called Angel Ride.
The Hole in the Wall Gang camp was founded by the late and great actor Paul Newman in 1988. The camp is a place where seriously ill children can go and forget their worries, make life long friends and feel normal.
The foundation also arranges visits for children who are in hospital by taking camp to them.
Paul’s mantra was a place where sick children could go and ‘raise hell’ and just be kids again. He wanted a place which would provide seriously ill children with a fun filled experiences defined by laughter, compassion and acceptance.
The winter has been very harsh in the states this year and the number of entrants for the ride are significantly lower than previous years. The organisers are worried that people will drop out because they have the mind set that “if I can’t finish the ride, I’m not going to do it”. This will therefore drop funds which will mean less visits to children in hospitals and Angel Ride will have wasted money on orangish the event.
That’s where I come in! It’s been 3 and 1/2 years since I was diagnosed with bowel cancer, I’ve got a blood clot in the vain that takes blood back to my heart and I’ve done no training whatsoever…..in fact the only time I’ve ridden a bike in the past 25 years was to ride downhill on both ‘death road’ in Bolivia and on the jungle inca trail.
The organisers of Angel Ride hope my participation will encourage others to also give it a go. After all it’s not about the riders, it’s about the kids!
This is ridiculously short notice and my trip has now taken a entirely new route. This will be without doubt be my biggest challenge yet. The ride is on the 24th and 25th May so I’ve got just a few weeks to prepare.
My heart tells me I can do it and I hope my body feels the same way once I get going. The first day is 85 miles with a approximately 5000ft of climbing! Yikes!
Most people I have spoken to have said I probably won’t be able to do it. My big brother believes I can do it and I believe in him so I’m pumped and ready to go!
An amazing guy called Andy is in the process of building me a bike to use (See pic).The organisers are frantically looking for some equipment I can use and it’s all very last minute.
The reason I want to do this is because I feel very strongly about charities such as these. Charities which help people directly and concentrate on a persons mental well being.
Places and people like this make all the difference to the life and recovery of a child because it starts making life fun again.
Sponsorship
I have asked you for a lot of sponsorship lately in the form of my head shave for the Leukaemia Foundation, Cancer Research UK and my big brother’s Marathon Des Sables race in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.
You have been so kind and supported me. I would love it if you could sponsor me for this wonderful cause please.
I have set myself a $1000 target. I’m not sure if that is realistic or not as I only have a few weeks until the actual event.
This is my Marathon Des Sables.
I plan to film the camps facilities, the reaction of the children and also see the hole in the wall gang in action in hospitals so I will show you first hand where your money is going.
I have always dreamed about creating a similar camp/park in the UK but for both children and adults. I know I could have used something like this as an adult as well.
Wish me luck gang and thank you for everything.
Sponsor link: https://www.crowdrise.com/Greig-AngelRide2015/fundraiser/greigtrout
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Nutrition… and free places on an amazing nutrition course!
Cancer is on the rise and we all seem to be obsessed with the treatment of cancer through medical research. But what about the prevention of cancer? Very few people including the government seem to be talking about why cancer is on the rise. Well it’s easy, our diet and our environment is rubbish (bad)! We eat meats from animals that are pumped full of hormones and are fed un nutritious foods, our vegetables and fruits are covered in pesticides and flown in from 1000s of miles away and our living and working environment is a smog and stress filled land of fast food and lack of exercise.
I’m a big believer in the power of nutrition. It makes perfect sense that what we put into out bodies can affect our overall well being. A formula one racing team wouldn’t put cheap fuel into its cars so why do we put bad fuel into the thing that keeps us alive?!
When I was ill I was overwhelmed by the amount of information on nutrition, all I might add I researched myself. My doctors didn’t mention nutrition once to me. I went to see a nutritional therapist called Liz Butler from Body Soul Nutrition. Liz was amazing and she broke everything down so I understood it and she developed a diet which was the perfect mix of boosting my immune system and making my body an inhospitable place for cancer cells!
Nutrition Course
Liz is holding a 4 week internet course that will guide you through the maze of information that will help you pick out the tools that are right for your unique situation and allowing you to optimise your own body’s powerful healing capabilities.
Liz is offering free places for two 101 Things followers (all countries accepted). If you are interested then please visit the Facebook Page, and write ‘COUNT ME IN’ in the comments box and I’ll get it sorted. It’s first come first serve so be please be quick.
For everyone else please consider doing this course. You will learn so much and it will not only help boost your immune systems cancer fighting cells but it will also fill you with confidence that everything you are putting into you body is helping destroy the bad cells and strengthen the good cells.
Please see the link below for more information:-
Body Soul Nutrition: www.bodysoulnutrition.co.uk
Update 04/05/2014
Body Soul Nutrition is now offering 30% of it’s 4 week nourish and thrive course exclusively for the gang of 101 Things!
If you are going through or have recovered from cancer and want ways to pump up your cancer fighting immune system then this course is for you!
Be quick though as course starts on the 7th May!
Please contact Liz Butler via the website to sign up. I’ve seen Liz for years and believe me she opened up my eyes to how important nutrition is in fighting and preventing cancer which in turn made me feel a lot better and that I was being proactive in fighting it.
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Is cancer the best thing ever to happen to me?
The psychological effects of cancer
I read a lot of books about cancer survivors doing amazingly positive things when I was ill and when I was better I hated myself for feeling the way I did. Why didn’t I feel the same way that these other survivors felt and why was I so worried all the time. It turned out these were all entirely normal feelings and I wasn’t going crazy after all.
As many of you will know I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after my second bout with cancer. This was without doubt the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life and my main reason for sharing my story. PTSD was far worse than the cancer itself. When I was ill I always believed I would get better but when I was better I didn’t believe that I was. As a result I was gripped by the thought of cancer returning, I suffered from severe anxiety, insomnia, night sweats and skin problems. I stopped being myself, I didn’t want to go out, my relationship with my girlfriend ended and I saw no future for myself.
I tried all sorts of therapy and even resorted to taking anti depressants. I knew I had to do something because I felt like I was going crazy. The thing that got me through this horrific period of my life was planning this trip and having something to look forward to.
I recently did an interview for a New York Times journalist called Jim Rendon who is writing a book on something called ‘Post traumatic growth’ whereby researchers have found that as many as half of the survivors of life-threatening traumatic events report positive changes in their lives as a result. It was a really fascinating interview and ever since I received his fist email I haven’t been able to stop thinking about some of the things he said.
I’ve often say that I ‘cured’ myself of PTSD by having this trip to look forward to. After reading this email it really got me thinking about whether or not I am indeed ‘cured’ of PTSD and if I am truly happy.
There was something that Jim said that I really identified with. He said that:
“For many, post traumatic growth can be more wisdom than happiness and for some can lead to entirely new life pursuits”
It made me realise that I am a lot wiser and I have changed my life for the positive but I am certainly not happier than I was before I got ill again. I am more grateful, yes, and I appreciate things far more because of what I have been through but I still find myself worrying a lot. Long bus rides and periods on my own give me a long time to get lost in my own thoughts.
The good thing is I can always bring myself round to happy thoughts now which is what I couldn’t do before. Sometimes I get a pain in my stomach which is food passing over the scar tissue in my bowel and straight away I think ‘what’s that?’ I then calm myself down and go through all the other possibilities it could be and then I think about all I have achieved lately:- Climbing volcanoes, trekking over mountains and waking up in the morning and feeling good.
Cancer is not the best thing ever to happen to me. I will never say this. I am more grateful than you will ever know but the scars of my memories will always be with me and for those I offer no thanks or gratitude to cancer. I’d rather wake up in the morning and have something else as my first thought of the day.
My reason for sharing this with you is to tell you that it’s ok to feel like this. You are not going crazy and you are not being negative. You’ve had a scare and sometimes it takes a long time or some kind of big change to help you get over that.
My advice to you is to do things that make you happy. Don’t be afraid of experiencing happiness. We are not put on this planet to have a horrible time but many people do and it’s very sad. I believe the meaning of life is ‘joy’. Joy of doing things you love and joy in helping others. Enjoy every second of the time you have and use every second for all it’s worth.
Thank you to my friend Kiki for taking this picture. We were in Ecuador at the time and I remember being lost in a world of good thoughts looking at the incredible Quilatoa crater thinking about how beautiful the world is. I usually have to ask people to take pictures of me so in most pics I am posing for the camera but this is one of the few natural pics where I am just sitting and taking it all in.
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Help change someone’s life
My favourite types of charity are the ones that help people directly and where you actually get to see the results of your kindness.
My amazing friend Jaime has set up a charity which helps change someone’s life every week. It’s called ’52 Lives’.
How does it work?
People nominate someone who is in need of a bit of help and every week 52 Lives shares the story, requests help and who knows, maybe some kind soul out there can change someone’s life for the better or at least make their day.
In my opinion this is the most fantastic charity and has helped so many people already.
As you know from a recent post an amazing little girl called Claire sadly passed away recently.
Claire was the first life 52 lives helped change. Claire was treated by the kindness of strangers to see a show at the theatre and she also got to live out one of her dreams at a VIP day out at underwater world.
Claire got to experience joy and happiness because of the kindness of strangers and was able to forget her fight with cancer for a few hours.
Right now 52 Lives is searching for presents for 300 serious ill children. Can you help? Who knows, maybe you or someone you know can help change someone’s life.
Well done Jaime. I’m so proud of you. x
Website
An amazing story of an amazing person
I’ve just read this story of an amazing 19 year old called Stephen who was diagnosed with incurable colorectal cancer at the age of 15. Last year he was told that it was inoperable prompting him to write a bucket list of 46 things.
One of the things on his list was to raise a million pounds for the Teenage Cancer Trust and today he achieved it! Absolutely amazing!
I think this emotional goodbye sums up what an inspirational and courageous man Stephen is. He will forever be remembered as a true warrior and an example of everything that is good in this world.
You’ve inspired so many people Stephen.
Thoughts and love to you are and your family. X
Sponsor Stephen
You can sponsor Stephen at: https://www.justgiving.com/stephen-sutton-TCT/
Stephen’s Farewell
It’s a final thumbs up from me! I’ve done well to blag things as well as I have up till now, but unfortunately I think this is just one hurdle too far.
It’s a shame the end has come so suddenly- there’s so many people I haven’t got round to properly thank or say goodbye too. Apologies for that.
There was also so many exciting projects and things I didn’t get to see out. Hopefully some will continue and if you want to carry on the fundraising please do (justgiving.com/stephen-sutton-TCT
is the link to donate to).All future updates on this page will probably be from a family member. I hopefully may have the energy to write a few tweets (@_StephensStory). I will continue fighting for as long as I can, and whatever happens next I want you all to know I am currently in a good place mentally and at ease with the situation.
That’s it from me. But life has been good. Very good.
Thank you to my mum and the rest of my family for everything. Thank you to my friends for being amazing. Thank you to my medical team for the hard work and effort they’ve continually they’ve put towards me. And thank you everyone else for sharing this wonderful journey with me.
I love you all x
Religion
I’ve just spent the past week volunteering at a Hare Krishna Eco Yoga Park. Working in the organic garden, eating amazing vegan food and practicing yoga in the afternoons in between naps and reading Game of Thrones (so good).
I only really came here to stay so I could recharge my batteries and stay in one place for longer than a few days but I’ve ended up learning so much whilst staying here.
I was going to start this post with ‘I’m not a religious person’ but then I realised I didn’t really know what the exact definition of religion actually is.
It turns out Religion is….’ the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods’.
When I think about this it makes me realise that except for the worship part, I am actually religious. Although I believe in the Big Bang theory and evolution I also wonder where all the gases came from in the first place to set the Big Bang off. Nothing just appears from nothing. There must be something that created these gases in the first place. What or who that was I have no idea but it’s something I’ve thought about for a long time now.
Although I don’t follow any of the different forms of religions I do respect them. When I was ill many people prayed for me which I was so grateful for. On my 21st birthday the vicar from the town I’m from in Scotland wrote to me to say that they had prayed for this day back when I was ill as a child. I was really overwhelmed by this. If anything I like religion because it helps give people hope and purpose.
When I left on this trip my mum gave me a holding cross so I could hold it so I could think about her and dad whenever I got sad or ill. For me the cross symbolises the love of my parents but for my mum maybe it’s a little something to let her know that god is watching over me. Either way I love it because my mum gave me it.
I knew nothing of Hare Krishna before I got here but now that I’ve learnt a little bit I really like their way of life. There are too many things to mention in one post but what I really like is their diet and the beliefs that shape it.
They live a vegan lifestyle which means they don’t eat meat, fish or dairy products. They do this because they want to live in harmony with the environment. The buildings are made out of natural resources which don’t damage the environment and they get their food from the gardens in the park.
One of the many reasons they don’t eat meat and the one I found most fascinating is because we are not actually born with the tools to kill animals. A lion or a tiger is born with big claws and sharp teeth, designed to kill other animals. Our hands are small with opposable thumbs and perfect for picking things like fruits and berries. If we were try and kill a cow with our bare hands and with no weapon it would be pretty difficult. Our intestinal tract is 12 times our body length (like other herbivore animals) which means meat can take up to 7 days to digest. A lions (or any other carnivore) intestinal tract is only three times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly. This means that so much energy is spent trying to digest meat. Ever wondered why you feel lethargic after a big roast dinner?!
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be a full on veggie or vegan but this experience has definitely got me thinking about how I’d like to live my life.
I have this image that when we die we go to a big lecture theatre where someone explains everything about the universe, what exactly happened, is there a god and that little question of ‘why are we here?’
Happy Easter gang
X
He Did It!
A message and a massive thank you from my amazing big brother. X
Just arrived back from the Marathon des Sables with my team mates Billy Gammon and Tim Lennox! We ran 240km across the Sahara desert and finished as the 10th ranked (2nd GB) team! I finished in 259th place which just sneaks into the top 25%!
A huge thank you to all of you who sponsored us. I have been overwhelmed by the money you have donated (around £24k so far) for Prostate Cancer and Rainforest Concern. Thank you also to those of you who sent messages of support to the desert. These were printed out and delivered to our tent every evening. I was truly touched and hugely inspired by these; amazing!
I devoted my ‘long day’ run to my brother Greig Trout and www.101thingstodowhenyousurvive.com, running 82km in under 15 hours. Thank you for all of the messages Greig’s followers sent me – they made a massive difference.
A final huge thank you to my team mates who were always fun, positive and inspiring, the other legends in Tent 107, and most of all my incredible wife, Helene Patounas for her unfaltering support in the months leading up to the event. Love you babe!
I’ll send some pics soon, but in the meantime, I’m heading to the couch with a pile of food…!
Cheers Team!
Trouty
Tango then rest
Thing #8 – Learn the Tango in Buenos Aires
Well the time has come to film my Tango!
I’ve now had six lessons with the wonderful Lucia and Gerry here in Buenos Aires and I’ve loved every single second of it. These guys are without doubt the best teachers on the planet. They’ve helped someone with no rhythm whatsoever learn to dance. They’ve been so kind to me and have offered to pay for a professional videographer to film my dance for my video. Very excited but also very nervous. What wonderful people.
Please remember 6 hours worth of lessons isn’t an awful lot so please don’t expect miracles gang!:) I’ve watched Strictly Come Dancing (UK version of Dancing with the Stars) for years now and I became addicted to it. I can’t sing, I can’t play a musical instrument and until now I couldn’t dance. Today I’m going to tick off Thing #8 on my list and this was one of the things I was most looking forward to achieving.
It’s showtime! See the video here.
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A day for being grateful
A day that should have been one of celebration was mostly spent with very mixed emotions.
I spent most of Thursday night getting rid of whatever nastiness I ate that day. As a result I was up all night vomiting and all sorts of other horrible stuff. I unfortunately fainted whilst in the bathroom and my poor friend Kiki found me slumped on the bathroom floor. I think her and half the hostel were woken up by the thud of my head banging off the floor.
I spent most of Friday hooked up to a drip in the wonderful German hospital where I had my check up.
As I lay there I experienced all the feelings I had felt when I was going through cancer;- fear, exhaustion, sickness and anger. As I did when I was diagnosed as a 30 year old I felt it was my fault that I was ill.
Thoughts of having to go home and memories of chemo and radiotherapy all came flooding back. The question of ‘could I ever go through it again?’ also came up.
After about 4 bags of whatever they were pumping into my veins I started to feel better and the doctor gave me my blood results which were all normal. 3 and 1/2 years all clear! Amazing! My life and my trip can continue.
I wanted to share this wonderful news with you yesterday but when I arrived back at my hostel I received very sad news that a young girl called Claire, who’s mum has been following my journey, had died suddenly. She had been suffering from a brain tumour. I have never met Claire or her Mum but I feel very close to them. Claire’s mum, Lynette, would often email me to tell me how Claire was doing and that they were inspired by my experiences. I was so sad to hear this news. We had made plans to all meet when I was in Australia. Claire was so young and I cannot begin to imagine how her family must be feeling right now.
If I’m completely honest, every now and again I’ve caught myself taking my new found health for granted. This day was again a massive reminder of how lucky I am to be healthy and to still be here, let alone be able to do this wonderful trip. Thing #5 on my list was to have an entire day where I didn’t think about cancer. I’m not sure I want this anymore. I don’t want to forget I’ve had cancer now, I just don’t want to be scared of it anymore. I want to be feel grateful that I was one of the lucky ones.
My love and thoughts are with Lynette and her family. I am so sorry for your loss and although we never got the chance to meet, I want you to know that Claire has inspired me to be a better person.
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Marathon Des Sables Update
My big brother and the boys completed the most challenging day of their 240km race across the Sahara desert yesterday. They ran the equivalent of two back to back Marathons (81km) in one day. Wow!
My brother Barry started running at 9am and finished at midnight. 81km in 14hrs 50 mins. He is now in the top 300 and I am so proud of him. He is my absolute hero. He makes me believe that anything is possible. I’ve been so worried about him doing this but judging by his messages he is loving every second of it. As he ran past the web cam he blew a kiss to his beautiful wife and held up his 101 Things patch! Love it!
Tim and Billy also finished the day strongly and finished in just over 13 hours which is incredible!
The best thing of all is that all the guys are safe and well. They have a rest day today so they can get ready for the next two days running. On Friday they have 42km to run and Saturday is an easy 21km to the finish line!
Come on team Desert Durham! We are all rooting for you!
(Desert Durham are running to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK and Rainforest concern whilst also letting people know about 101 Things and that anything is possible)
Sponsor the boys
If you would like to sponsor the boys please go to:
http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/desdurham
