BUDE’S Nick Swan will take part in the 2019 Deloitte Ride Across Britain next month to raise money for CLIC Sargent.

Nick, 39, will ride for the charity due to the ‘exceptional’ support they have provided him and his family following his daughter Isabel’s acute lymphoblastic leukaemia diagnosis in May 2017.

Nick said: “Isabel was a lively little girl, until she started complaining of aching legs and had a cough that wouldn’t go. One evening we noticed a huge bruise on her back which she didn’t remember bumping. I could tell from the size, shape and colour of the bruise something was not right, so we took her to the doctor the next day.

“The doctor knew it was serious and referred us straight to Barnstaple hospital. After a quick check from the paediatric doctor, we first heard the word ‘leukaemia’. A blood test confirmed the devastating news within a couple of hours.

“That day Isabel was given a blood and platelet transfusion as her counts were so low due to the leukaemia messing up her blood counts. In total, Isabel has had around ten blood transfusions and four bags of platelets over the last couple of years.

“In the evening, a CLIC Sargent nurse called Jenny came to see and console us. Within a day we were transferred up to Bristol Children’s Hospital where Isabel started intense chemotherapy for two weeks. CLIC Sargent thankfully have a large house near the hospital where families can stay while their child undergoes treatment. This was really important to us as we had two younger children so being able to stay together while supporting Isabel through her treatment meant a huge amount to our family. In total we have stayed around three months in Bristol Children’s Hospital and the CLIC house.”

Since then Isabel has progressed well. She was allowed home and spent the next six months making daily trips to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for chemotherapy. Since then she has been in her final period of treatment known as ‘maintenance’ as Nick explains.

He said: “This involves chemotherapy tablets at home and monthly check-ups at hospital. Each Monday, Jenny, our CLIC Sargent nurse, visits our house to take Isabel’s blood. Based on these results, they vary the medication Isabel takes. If Jenny didn’t come out to us, we’d need to take weekly visits to Exeter hospital which would have meant Isabel missing half a day of school each week and around three months of school in total. This would have been really hard for her as she loves going to school at St Petroc’s, learning, and seeing her friends.

“We have been lucky so far, Isabel’s treatment has gone really well. On August 19 she’ll finish her two years and three months of treatment. Sadly some families aren’t so lucky and have to deal with losing a child to cancer or leukaemia. CLIC Sargent help support parents and siblings through what must be an absolutely devastating time of sadness and grief.”

So how did Nick come up with the idea of cycling from one end of Britain to the other?

He said: “Last September we were coming back from one of Isabel’s appointments in Exeter and when we were coming back through Okehampton I saw the Ride Across Britain event and googled it when I got home, and there and then decided to enter it.

“I started training back in September and it was the first time I’d done any cycling in 20 odd years. I put a fair bit of weight on during Isabel’s treatment so there’s two reasons why I chose to do it, one to get back in shape, and two to give back to CLIC Sargent for all the support they’ve given us and to help other families going through what we’ve had to.”

The event itself is a nine-day, 980-mile event starting at Land’s End in West Cornwall before cycling all the way up to John O’Groats, the most northerly point of mainland in the UK.

In total, Nick and his fellow competitors will cycle on average 115 miles per day, although as part of entering, organisers provide a camp every night as well as food and medical supplies, meaning he can focus on the ride itself.

He said: “We were given a training plan which I’ve religiously stuck to and I’ve also met people out and about and joined up with Holsworthy Peloton rides.”

The training for such an endurance event takes its toll, although with Nick being self-employed running a software business, that helps.

Nick said: “You’ve got to dedicate a lot of time to it, some weeks around 20 hours of training. I’ve been doing nine-hour rides at weekends, but hopefully it’ll pay off come September 7. I also did the London Revolution ride recently which was 100 miles on Saturday and 80 miles on a Sunday and a couple of weeks ago I cycled 120 miles to Land’s End and then the 100 miles back to Bude.”

Nick and his partner Sophie moved to Bude three years ago to live close to the sea, and have three kids, Isabel (five), Megan (three) and Charlie (two), and Nick praised the local community for their support during Isabel’s treatment.

He said: “The support from locals has been amazing, there’s a couple of other children who’ve been through the same thing and we’ve got to know people through this. It’s been a long road but Isabel is classed as low risk now, so it’s gone as well as we could have hoped. She gets a bit annoyed with the amount of training I’ve been doing but she understands and helps out with the bucket collections.”

To help reach Nick’s initial target of £5,000 visit https://justgiving.com/fundraising/nick-swan-clic-sargent