After hearing his grandson had been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Alistair Grassick was thinking of ways to raise money for finding a cure. That's when he decided to cycle 100 miles in a day for his grandson.
This is Alistair's Dash AT HOME story.
“You know there are occasions in life when you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news? Well, hearing that my lovely, lively, active, inquisitive and bright, nearly seven-year-old grandson Bruce, had been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the spring of 2021, was one of those times that I’ll never forget.”
“I’d never heard of Duchenne before and certainly didn’t know what it was or what its impact might be. Over the following months, we found out more about the disease and I stumbled upon the Dash AT HOME which got me thinking about how I could raise a “couple of bob”. I wasn’t thinking too clearly as I decided that cycling a hundred miles in a day was a good idea!”
“A month of training later, the challenge began with my son-in-law Jim, Bruce’s dad, as we cycled a circular route from home just north of Milton Keynes, going west towards the Cotswolds, south to Oxford, then home, with the cunning plan to avoid hills and use the prevailing south-westerly to blow us gently home over the closing miles.”
“It turned out to be far tougher than imagined, actually one of the hardest things, physically, that I’ve ever done. My plan had not been quite cunning enough to avoid all of the hills but, we made it. There was no way we would ever have failed given the two things that were the main inspiration and driving force: The generosity of the fantastic people who made all of the donations. And our wonderful, lovely wee man, Bruce, who was in my thoughts saying “Come on Grandpa, you can do it!” many times during the day when my legs were about to give way.”
“Jim and I initially thought we could raise somewhere around £1,000 but were overwhelmed to see much more than that being donated, it was incredible. If you’re thinking about doing something yourself to raise money my advice would be to just do it and then expect to be overwhelmed by people’s kindness.”
Challenge yourself to complete 300kms in any way that you like (the distance from London to Paris) in six weeks for Duchenne UK.