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Brave cyclist battles cancer with 1,000 mile bike ride
10 Jun 2021
by Cathy Block

Gareth Emmerson is a 28-year-old from Ford, Shrewsbury. He has terminal Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare type of bone and soft tissue cancer and has battled the disease since 2014 when he was 21 years old. It's come back three times, each time more aggressively and spreading to different parts of his body. He’s cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats covering 1000 miles from 8 - 20 June to raise as much money and awareness as possible for Sarcoma UK and has been training for the ride whilst on chemotherapy. Doing the ride with him is his fiance, Zoe, his dad Andy (also from Shrewsbury) and four of his closest friends.

Gareth tells his story here:

www.youtube.com/watch


Sarcoma UK is the only national charity to fund research and campaign for better treatments for sarcoma victims. Their research is unlikely to help Gareth, but he’s set on making a difference for the teenagers and young adults who are diagnosed with sarcoma in the years to come.

You can help Gareth on his mission by buying tickets for The Great Shrewsbury Raffle and be in with a chance of winning awesome prizes. All proceeds go to Sarcoma UK. The prizes have all been donated by local businesses and are listed below. The draw is taking place at the end of day 4 of his bike ride when he stops in Shrewsbury next Friday 11 June at the River View Cafe. He will be streaming it live on his Instagram at 8 pm (@gaz_emmerson). People can buy tickets for £1 each by donating at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/greatshrewsburyraffle they then need to either (a) tick the "I'm happy to share my contact details with Gareth Emmerson" box on the JustGiving checkout page or (b) forward their JustGiving confirmation email to greatshrewsburyraffle@outlook.com so they can be sent their tickets.

The prizes are:

1. A 2 night stay at a StayInShrewsbury.com holiday let

2. 2 x tickets for Steps and Sophie Ellis Bexter at Resorts World Arena, Birmingham on Saturday 6 November 2021

3. 2 x tickets for McFly at Resort World Arena, Birmingham on Sunday 19 September 2021

4. 2 x tickets for Blondie at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool on Saturday 6 November 2021

5. A 3-course meal for 2 and a bottle of Evolution from the Hencote

6. £150 voucher to spend with luxury online fashion platform Farfetch

7. £150 personal training session voucher to spend with Fit4Purpose

8. £50 cut and blow-dry and £100 worth of hair products from Meraki Hair & Beauty

9. A meal voucher from La Lanterna

10. Lunch for 2 people at La Dolce Vita

11. £75 voucher to spend with Bill Leighton Photography Studio (2 x £75 vouchers to win!)

12. Afternoon tea for 2 at Café Zero Bridgenorth

13. Afternoon tea for 2 at Alderford Lake Café

14. A family ticket to the Shrewsbury Food Festival

15. £40 voucher to spend at The River View Café, Shrewsbury (4 x £40 vouchers to win!)

16. One month of Mindfulness Mediation classes with Sarah Lamsdale

17. 6 x large pizza vouchers from Dominos Shrewsbury (one prize)

18. £25 voucher to spend at Café St Mary’s (2 x £25 vouchers to win!)

19. A home baking kit from Bread and Loaf

20. A £30 voucher for Vanitas Tattoo

21. A driving lesson with Jamie Stafford

22. A set of nails from The Beautique Parlour

23. A magnum of prosecco and a box of finest Belgian chocolates from Tesco

24. A bottle of wine from Majestic Wine

Gareth stood with bike