A STUDLEY dad is gearing up to take on a 100-mile a day cycling challenge to help in the battle against ovarian cancer and show his wife how much she means to him.
Matt Stanford will be taking part in the Man Power Challenge 2016 on Wednesday (June 29) in support of his wife, Jo, who recently discovered she has the BRCS gene mutation, which means she has an increased risk of developing certain cancers including ovarian.
Matt, who is cycling from Glasgow to London, said: “Not long after I met Jo she sadly lost her mother to cancer. We then found out that Joanne had a BRCA mutation that greatly increased her chances of developing it.
“Since we found out about this we have been through plenty of highs and lows. All things considered it seemed like it might be about time I did something difficult, instead of her for once.”
The father of five-year-old Isaac, and Henry, aged three, has promised to do a victory lap around Bright Kids Nursery, where his youngest attends, to thank them for their support while he kicked his training up a gear.
“Everyone has been so supportive of my challenge and I’m over half way to my target of raising £2,000,” said Matt.
“The Man Power Challenge gives me the chance to inject some well needed money into working out the best way to reduce the number of people out there without mothers, wives, sisters and aunties due to deaths from ovarian cancer.
“When I signed up for the challenge it had been a fair while since I’d really been on a bike, but I’ve put in some hard graft over the last six months.
“This is our chance to show the ladies in our lives just what they mean to us.”
Man Power is the UK’s first male-only cycle ride to raise funds for research carried out at the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre.
