How an e-bike helped recovery from leukaemia | Vicky Meets

Vicky meets… Steve Mitchell, from the ebike-centre in Birdham.
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• You have completed many epic cycle rides for the charity Blood Cancer UK. Why?

In 2008 my brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He urged me to get myself checked and I was found to have a rare form of leukaemia – my treatment started only two days after being diagnosed.

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I was given a 30 per cent chance of recovery and I needed a bone marrow donor.

Steve MitchellSteve Mitchell
Steve Mitchell

One minute life was just normal and the next it had imploded; I was making a will, closing my business and writing letters to my nearest and dearest.

I had four months of treatment at St Richard’s and then more at Southampton. It was gruelling. I lost my hair and the ability to eat, and they sent a priest to see if I had any last words. I said I wasn’t ready to see him and that I had two young children and couldn’t give up.

How did you build yourself back up after treatment?

I had lost 3st along with my muscle mass and was in a wheelchair. Within time I started walking our dogs.

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Then I started riding an old electric bike around the garden. E-bikes are power assisted and so amplify your effort.

Within nine months I was cycling from Selsey to Southampton for check-ups.

My specialist was a cyclist and asked me if I fancied doing a long-distance ride. I did, followed in 2014 by the London-to-Paris for Blood Cancer UK.

And you met someone special at the end of one race, I believe?

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In 2015 I sent a poem to my bone marrow donor telling her what her gift meant to me. Blood Cancer UK arranged for us to meet for the first time at the Eiffel Tower at the next London-to-Paris race. It was incredibly emotional.

Catherine is a lovely lady. Her daughter told me that, as I had her mummy’s blood, we were now family.

Catherine wasn’t a cyclist, but by then I had the bike shop, so I sent her a bike and put her in touch with a trainer. We did the next big ride together. Since then I have done a race across the Alps – 600 miles, 67,000ft up and down mountains – and many more charity rides.

How are you now?

I am in remission, but I have regular check-ups. I keep as fit as I can. At the ebike-centre I help a lot of people to get started with cycling. If you’re not confident on a bike, or your fitness has slipped, an e-bike is fantastic. I couldn’t have made the recovery I did without an e-bike.

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Having leukaemia has changed my attitude to life. I don’t get so stressed about stuff. I also support people undergoing the same treatment as I had and give talks urging people to become donors, including at universities.

It’s really easy to become a donor and you can literally save a life.

Visit www.ebike-centre.co.uk,find out more about Blood Cancer UK at www.bloodcancer.org.uk or register to become a donor at www.anthonynolan.org