Luke takes on cycle challenge for Trust charity

Luke Dutton has completed his challenge to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back in three weeks, a distance of 1784.5miles arriving back at Land's End on Friday September 25th.

In completing his challenge he has raised £1 872 (so far with more to come) for the Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust Renal Unit and for the volunteer transport service which helped his sister and her family when she suffered kidney failure.

In 2014 Luke’s mother, Janet, donated a kidney to his sister Charlotte Chenoweth, who lives in Biscovey. For the next few months Charlotte had to make a twice weekly, 100-mile round trip to Derriford Hospital’s Renal Unit for ongoing care.

The Transport Access Patients Service (TAPS) which is administered by Age UK Cornwall supplied a car and driver to take Charlotte to her appointments. Our Renal Unit has a team of Specialist Nurses which supports the patient and family in the lead up to the surgery and assists in provision of accommodation for families from Cornwall through a special fund administered by the Trust – Friends of the Renal Unit.

Luke, 33, set off on his journey from Land’s End on September 5. His father Garry has been transporting equipment in his motorcycle and sidecar. On the way he wore through several pairs of shorts, he and his father took several unplanned detours and his father’s motorcycle journey ended slightly earlier than planned when the motorcycle broke down. However he managed to continue supporting Luke, returning in his van to transport equipment.

Luke, who has kept a blog of his journey - http://lejogle.tumblr.com/ - said: “It's been a hard three weeks, with the wind, rain and cold weather. Although there have been times when I've wondered why I'm doing it, it's all been worth it. I've enjoyed myself and I'm so pleased to have raised so much for two such worthy causes.”

Anyone who still wants to donate can do so at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Lejogle