Published 12-03-2013
Cox Motor Group is supporting one of their loyal customers, Philip Rossall who is riding his Honda NC700X around the coastline of Great Britain in memory of his daughter Kimberley.She sadly passed away last year in Christie’s Young Oncology Unit who cared for her for 3 years. As a thank you to them and in memory of her, he is donating the money collected from his ride to them.
The ride, named the "Spare Pair of Underpants and a Plastic Carrier Bag Tour", is starting from Cleveleys on the 9th/10th April and covers over 3500 miles! An epic feat, but Philip has the best motivation possible. Here he describes what happened to Kimberley and the care she, and the family, received from Christie’s Young Oncology Unit:
“Kim, battled a rare form of cancer called Ewings’s sarcoma since she was aged 18. She began a gruelling schedule of treatment and underwent painstaking surgery at a specialist unit in Oswestry Hospital, Shropshire. She had to learn to walk again when the cancer, which had spread to her lungs, returned. She then had extensive treatment of high dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Sadly, it returned yet again and she was told the cancer was incurable in January 2012.”
“Kim, who inspired everyone she met, was the guest of honour and started Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life in Blackpool on Wednesday July 4 2012. She also completed the event, along with family and friends, despite being desperately poorly at the time. This was just one element of a huge amount of charitable work she did, despite the harsh regime she had to follow.”
“Kim sadly passed away on the 17th of August 2012, our wedding anniversary. She always had to remind me, it’s unlikely I will ever forget again.”
“Christie’s Young Oncology Unit looked after Kim for 3 years and in that time the care she received was second to none nothing is ever too much trouble to them. They, along with Clic Sargeant Children’s Cancer Charity, provide on-going support to not only the patient but their families as well.”
The money raised will be given to Christie’s to provide medical equipment for the unit, family social support and their patients with games consoles, music, craft, on-site Sky TV, and also day trips to bowling and laser quest for the patient’s siblings. These are essential distractions for both the patients and their families to take their minds off cancer, if only for a couple of hours. The care Christie’s provides, like Philip mentioned, is second to none and with your donations, cancer can be made easier to cope with.
Blackpool Honda (part of the Cox Motor Group) is Philip’s main sponsor, as he has been one of their most loyal customers for many years, buying both Honda cars and motorcycles from them. David Cox, the Managing Director, is very proud to be sponsoring Philip, he commented: “Philip approached me about his coastal ride and explained his reasons for doing it. I was touched by his passion to do something so challenging, so worthwhile from something so obviously tragic, and I wanted to help. We've obviously made a donation and the group is helping him to promote his ride too with the help of all our friends in business. We want to get Philip as much money as possible, so please give what you can for this more worthy of causes.”