Celebrate the Cape Town Cycle Tour's 40th birthday
Maxime Wolffe is hoping to raise R20 000 for the Sunflower Fund and raise awareness
AFTER being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, Maxime Wolffe and her husband Kevin decided to participate in their first Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) in 2014 with the hopes of raising money for the Sunflower Fund.
Six months into her chemotherapy, she developed “Sweet’s syndrome” which is an auto-inflammatory disease, often linked to lymphoma.
“I had to go on large doses of cortisone to keep the pain and lesions under control. It was with this condition that we cycled the Argus. At that stage I was still undiagnosed. It turned out the lymphoma had returned, so I did another six months of chemo.”
After her PET scan, Wolffe received a bone marrow transplant.
“Luckily for me my own bone marrow was healthy, so they used my own for my transplant. I went into hospital in October 2015 and the transplant took place in November 2015.”
After a month of not being able to see her two children Jordyn, 9, and Teagan, 6, Wolffe returned home.
“It took about three months to be able to feel relatively ‘normal’ the complete exhaustion finally started going away. Thankfully now, a year and three months later, I can honestly say that I feel great.”
While Wolffe always loved cycling, she never got into the sport until she decided to get a tandem with her husband for the Cycle Tour.
“I get really nervous when cars or other cyclists come close to me, so the perfect answer for us was to get a tandem, that way I don’t need to worry about anything. Luckily I trust him implicitly.”
In her previous Cycle Tour, Wolffe raised R10 000 and would love to go a step further by doubling that amount during the 40th anniversary of the tour this year.
“I would love to cycle every year to raise funds for the Sunflower Fund. If it weren’t for them then I wouldn’t be here enjoying life. I want to help in any way possible, this is our way of saying thank you Dr Du Toit and your amazing team.”
Wolffe would love to raise more awareness about donating bone marrow, stating that there is no painful operation involved, just blood taken. Wolffe always jokes and tells people about her love for cycling tandem with her husband because she can moan at him and he can not run away from her.
“He has no option but to listen. I think I can speak for Kevin as well, it is just pure special time spent together, chatting and laughing with no disturbances, some couples enjoy date night, we enjoy cycling together.”
The Wolffes cycle with the tour’s direct team and appreciates their support through her days fighting lymphoma.
“When I was ill I used to love hearing the good stories, it gave me hope.” –