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In July 2011, Nick Maude from Hampshire and his friend Richard Perkins cycled the Etape: a 208km one-day stage of the Tour de France. Tragically, just four months later, Nick Maude died following a late diagnosis of kidney cancer.
To celebrate Nick’s life, Richard, along with pals Roger Morgan-Grenville (director of housewares supplier Dexam International) and Simon James, have pledged to raise funds for Kidney Cancer UK, to support an early awareness research programme in Nick’s name.
To date, they have raised £59,000 – the single largest piece of private fundraising in the charity’s history – with a target of £90,000.
The sum so far has been achieved through donations and a variety of events including a Call My Wine Bluff’ evening and cycling the 2016 Etape.
Roger ran 2012 miles in 2012 (about 5.5 miles a day), finishing a day before the end of the year. Highlights included running along the same highway in Kenya that East Africa’s elite athletes use to train, and running in a forest in Frankfurt in shorts and a T-shirt when the temperature plummeted to minus 16 degrees.
Roger said: “Every step I ran was a tiny celebration of Nick’s life. Every time my limbs started to pack up, the thought of these efforts helping another ‘Nick’ through our fundraising got them working again. He was a family man, full of fun, and he adored cricket. That’s how we all remember him.”
A cheque for monies raised to date was recently presented in the name of Nick Maude by Roger and Richard to the kidney cancer research project headed by Dr Maxine Tran and Dr Michael Aitchison – leading lights in the treatment and research of kidney cancer – and David Cullen, lead nurse in renal cancer at The Renal Cancer Centre at The Royal Free Hospital, London.
Dr Maxine Tran said: “We would like to thank Richard, Roger and Simon and Kidney Cancer UK for donating £59,000 in the name and memory of Nick Maude. We also offer our sincere condolences to Nick’s family for their loss.
“This, and future money raised, will go to fund a PhD student for three to four years who will perform vital research into the mechanisms, development and progression of kidney cancer. An important aim is to increase our understanding of how kidney cancers behave. Improved knowledge will help us find better ways of early detection and treatment, which will ultimately bring us closer to reducing deaths from this silent killer.”
Roger, Richard and Simon are continuing to raise the final £30,000 required to fully fund the PhD student. To donate, visit their website at www.kcuk.org.uk/nickmaude.
l-r: Nick Maud Memorial Fund Cheque hand over: Richard Perkins, Roger Morgan-Grenville and Dr Michael Aitchison, CSN David Cullen and Dr Maxine Tran from The Renal Cancer Centre at The Royal Free Hospital London
