Hero dad will cycle 330 miles for sick daughter
Vietnam to Cambodia ride to help cystic fibrosis families
A DEVOTED dad whose daughter has cystic fibrosis is cycling 330 miles in the Far East to help future sufferers of the life-limiting condition.
Bob Clarke, 61, has already raised £32,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in a series of gruelling challenges.
His daughter Sophie, 29, said of his latest adventure: “My dad is a total hero to me. He’s amazing.
“Both of us want to make sure the next generation of CF sufferers have a happier, healthier future.”
Sophie was just three months old when diagnosed with the genetic disorder, which causes mucus to build up in the lungs, intestine and pancreas.
Her childhood consisted of daily physiotherapy, dozens of pills and intravenous antibiotics.
By the time she was 16 she was in a wheelchair and suffering from chest infections every month that needed hospital treatment. She said: “My lung capacity was at just 15%. I needed round-the-clock help just to breathe. My future was looking very bleak.”
Doctors put her on the waiting list for a double lung transplant and she had almost given up hope when a suitable match became available.
The surgery saved her life but she still needs to take 35 tablets a day, including antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, to try to stop her body from rejecting the transplant.
Sophie also has CF-related diabetes, which she takes insulin for.
And she is currently in hospital on a course of antibiotics following a particularly nasty chest infection.
Her dad, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, told the Express: “When Sophie was born it was a time when there were no treatments to help with any of the nasty symptoms of CF. Now there are marvellous drugs to help sufferers, like Kaftrio, but when Sophie was young there was nothing and doctors were saying that children with CF would only live to around 30 years.”
He added: “Twelve years ago Sophie had new lungs and that’s held back the clock for her but on average transplanted lungs stay healthy for around eight and a half years, so she is doing exceptionally well looking after them. But she is having to take powerful anti-rejection drugs and they can negatively affect her body. She also has CF-related diabetes.
“But her life has been remarkable in so many ways and when she was diagnosed we never thought she’d grow up to be working in an office and living a full life.” Sophie, who is an international adviser for AXA, lives in Burwash, East Sussex, and has a boyfriend, George Wood, 30.
This September her father – a technical delivery manager for Daily Express parent company Reach PLC – will cycle for 12 days from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh To Angkor Wat in Cambodia to raise funds for research. He said: “It’s like doing a London to Brighton bike ride every day over unpredictable terrain and in the heat and humidity. But I’m so excited about doing it. I’m paying to do the trip out of my own pocket so that every penny raised goes straight to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.” His motivation is the hope “that other families may not have to go through the terrible experience” suffered by Sophie, her mum Sue, 57, and him. He said: “We need good CF treatments that are available on the NHS. “Let’s hope we can fix this disease once and for all.” Beverly Burnham-Jones at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust said: “We’re incredibly grateful for Bob’s continued dedication to raising money.”