‘Lee’s energy keeps me going’
Mum takes on London to Paris charity cycle
‘Just do it’.
The inspiring motto East Kilbride boy Lee Jamieson lived by is the motivation his mum ElizabethAnne Holmes will channel when she embarks on an epic charity cycle from London to Paris tomorrow.
The Westwood mum is getting on her bike in memory of 12-year-old Lee who lost a nine-month battle with leukaemia in August 2014.
Lee’s family set up the charity Live it for Lee in his name to help find a cure for the disease and, to date, donations for blood cancer charity Bloodwise have topped £130,000.
The London2Paris fundraiser will see a team of riders set off in a peloton from iconic Eltham Palace through Pas de Calais and the Somme, taking on the rolling hills of northern France to Beauvais and finishing at the Eiffel Tower.
Elizabeth-Anne told the News her beloved boy is the only inspiration she needs to cross the finish line four days from now.
“Just like every other event we have carried out over the past three years I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it wasn’t for Lee,” the 48-year-old said.
“Lee is at the heart of every single one of our events and it’s his energy all around us that keeps me going.”
The seed for London2Paris was sown at a recent Bloodwise ambassadors’ event in Birmingham – but Elizabeth-Anne admits she was a complete novice in the saddle and didn’t even own a bike.
But after learning of the situation, Halfords East Kilbride generously donated a top-of-the-range road bike to the cause.
Elizabeth-Anne continued: “It’s with enormous thanks to the kindness and thoughtfulness of Halfords store manager Donnie Martin and assistant manager Nicole Hood who, on hearing Lee’s story, so generously donated a bike to Live it for Lee.
“I am also grateful to my bikebuddy Angela Sneddon for not only introducing me to canal paths and Costas from Bothwell to Balloch, but for signing up and doing this ride with me.
“We’ve lifted bikes over styles and cycled through sheep, I’ve had my first puncture, fell in a bush – more than once – and seen views like never before. I’m ready for whatever London2Paris has to bring and I can’t wait to just do it!”
Elizabeth-Anne joked her biggest challenge so far has been to pack everything she needs for the trip into one backpack – including a ballgown and high heels for the Bloodwise gala dinner in Paris.
“A lovely wee treat if we can manage to sit down after cycling 500 kilometres over three-and-a-half days,” she quipped.
“Another reason for taking this challenge on is quite simply that there is nothing that I wouldn’t do to continue our support for the incredible work that Bloodwise does for all who are affected by this awful disease.”
All funds raised will go directly to Professor Michelle West, at the University of Sussex, who recently discovered a breakthrough medicine, effective and now in use against the type of lymphoma that Lee had.
Live it for Lee’s support of Michelle’s work and her breakthrough has helped find a cure for just one of 137 different types of blood cancer – but her work is far from done.
Elizabeth-Anne added: “For as long as we have support around us we will continue to direct any funds raised by Live it for Lee in memory of our wee boy into this type of research, to help bring adults and children like Lee back home where they belong.”
●Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/ elizabeth-anne-holmes to donate.
Lee is the heart of every single one of our events and it’s his energy all around us that keeps me going...