Richard tackles bike bucket list for cause
A father-of-three is bravely taking on a series of cycling challenges – despite only having months left to live.
Richard Butterfield, 53, was diagnosed with head and neck cancer out of the blue, after thinking the swelling in his gland was the after-effect of a cold.
Richard, who lives just outside Bath in Staverton, Trowbridge, has since been told he has just months left to live after the cancer spread to his lungs and brain.
Despite knowing his prognosis, Richard has committed himself to a series of incredibly tough endurance cycling challenges, which he says are part of his “bucket list”.
Richard, originally from Frome, was first diagnosed in 2019 but only got the terminal diagnosis in March 2020.
He said: “I had a lump in my gland on my neck. Someone in my family had just had a sore throat so I just thought that’s what I had.
“But the lump got bigger and didn’t go away.”
Richard said he found it difficult to get a GP appointment initially, but since then has had an “amazing” level of service from the NHS.
He said: “I had the lump for four to six weeks before being seen. I genuinely didn’t think anything of it.
“I went to have the biopsy and I remember the guys saying ‘I’m glad you’re fit’ and I guess it was because he already knew it was cancerous just from looking at the initial results.”
He continued: “At first it wasn’t too bad, I had three surgeries to remove it from my throat and I seemed to be doing all right.
“But what they don’t really advertise is that this form of cancer likes to metastasise.”
In January 2020 Richard had his annual check-up which showed there was a marked drop in his lung function. Richard, who works for service provider Amey, said: “They sent me for a CT scan and that’s when we realised it had spread to my lungs. They said that it was incurable.
“I felt very sorry for the doctors who had to tell me that. I tried to put myself in their shoes of having to give someone that news.
“I asked what the median life expectancy was and they told me I may have until the end of 2021 – so three months’ time.
“I’m determined I will do better than that though.”
Soon after the second diagnosis, in March 2020 the coronavirus pandemic hit causing his treatment to be delayed. Richard said: “They couldn’t really do much for cancers in Covid so I kept doing what I was doing – cycling lots and training. I’ve been doing that all my life.
“For me I don’t think the delay would have made any difference at all.”
He added: “After finishing the chemo that’s when I started to think about my bucket list.”
Richard made it his mission to raise both money and awareness of the importance of early diagnosis in his Ride Over Cancer challenge, where he is taking on all the European Haute Route events – physically challenging endurance cycling competitions that take place across Europe – in 2021.
He has so far raised more than £10,000 for three cancer charities: Cancer Research, NOMAN is an Island, and Dorothy House Hospice Care. The challenge has seen Richard complete the following cycling races:
■ Crans-montana, Switzerland, in June, which took three days, is 220km long and an 8,300m-high vertical ascent.
■ Alps, France, in August, which lasted a week and is 800km long and goes up a 22,000m vertical ascent.
■ Dolomites, Italy, in September, which took five days, is 400km long and goes up a 14,000m vertical ascent.
■ Ventoux, France, in October, which took three days, is 270km long and goes up a 7,900m vertical ascent.
Richard is no stranger to endurance events as he has already done what constitutes seven back-to-back Tour de France stages before. He said: “I competed on the Haute Route Alps in 2018 and finished just outside the top 100. I could well have been carrying the cancer at the time but did not know it.”
So far Richard has been able to finish each race well, but earlier this summer he noticed he was having trouble with some of his words. Doctors found a brain tumour, which led to him having a craniotomy in July.
Richard has got one last round of treatment – immunotherapy – this autumn, but it has about an 18 per cent chance of being effective. He said: “I want to give hope to people living with cancer that life isn’t over after treatment, though it can sometimes be a little harder, and a bit shorter.
“I am also hoping to raise awareness of the need to get an early diagnosis – it really could make a difference – it certainly could have done for me.
“I know I have limited time so I am truly trying to make the most of each day, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I’m really trying to live each day as if it is my last.”
You can donate to Richard’s cause at https://bit.ly/3dtfolz for Cancer Research and at https:// bit.ly/3lshooo for NOMAN is an Island.