Shrewsbury man with terminal cancer raises £60k before starting cycling challenge
A young man with terminal cancer who is just weeks away from cycling nearly 900 miles has already raised more than £60,000 for charity.
Shrewsbury's Gaz Emmerson, 28, admitted that when he was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, it left him "numb", but he wanted to do something to raise cash and awareness for Sarcoma UK, so others can survive it in the future.
He set himself the challenge of cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats with his wife-to-be, dad and best pals.
Having training interrupted by gruelling chemotherapy has taken its toll, but Gaz is ready to face the challenge head on.
He is looking forward to a hero's welcome in Shrewsbury from friends and family at The Lion Hotel in Wyle Cop on day four of the challenge.
"It's all still going ahead as planned," he said. "We're leaving on June 8 and stopping off in Shrewsbury on June 11.
"Training is going really well. I had a bit of a problem a couple of weeks ago because I wasn't feeling great after treatment, but I'm happy with where I am now. I'm hoping to get a couple more good weeks of training in.
"One of the biggest motivators for me is to see how many people have got behind me and supported me."
Warehouse manager Gaz was first diagnosed at the age of just 21.
"I was on so much morphine that it didn't really sink in," he recalled. "It was more the reaction of my fiancee Zoe and my mum that hurt me."
It initially came as a huge shock to Liverpool fan Gaz, who thought that pains he was having were simply a result of overdoing it at the gym. "I'd always been fairly fit and I thought I'd just overstretched something. First I was recommended to go to physio, which didn't help. I left it but eventually went to the orthopaedic hospital in Gobowen (Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Hospital) where they ran a load of tests and gave me a diagnosis. I had a tumour at the bottom of my back the size of two tennis balls."
Over the past seven years, he's beaten cancer three times, but each time it has returned more aggressively and spread to different parts of his body. In November last year, he found out it was back for a fourth time, now in his lungs, lymph nodes and brain, and his diagnosis became terminal.
As part of his fundraising, Gaz has launched a raffle which has a host of luxury prizes up for grabs including a two-night stay at StayInShrewsbury holiday lets, tickets for Steps, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, McFly and Blondie, a three-course meal at Hencote in Shrewsbury and much more. Gaz will be documenting his ride on his Instagram page, @gaz_emmerson
The raffle costs £1 a ticket. To view the full list of prizes and enter, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/greatshrewsburyraffle
Gaz will be documenting his ride on his Instagram page, @gaz_emmerson.
