In Memory of Mavis

This whole challenge is created and dedicated to Mavis Millar. Mavis defied odds her whole life and was a true fighter. Sadly, in December 2011, she lost her unexpected fight with cancer. Mavis was a very fit and active 78 year old. More so than her granddaughter (my girlfriend) at the ripe old age of 29. Illness was never something that took Mavis down and she would always get up and carry on. Even at the age of 78, she would walk for hours, go on active holidays, parasailing, theme park rides with her sisters in Disney World and would always sniff out a great bargain. Mavis or Nana Moon as we liked to call her because of her cuteness, lived in Dumfries in Scotland most of her life and loved to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow for various long weekend shopping trips.

Nana Moon with Abby and Jenna

My reasons for doing this event are that I promised my girlfriends nana, Mavis Millar, who I have known for 8 years, that my next challenge would be for her. She sadly lost her fight with cancer in December last year and I made this challenge whilst she was in hospital. I wanted a challenge that defied odds and pushed me to my limits once again. Mavis consistently defied odds and I just wish she was able to defy cancer. She defied it and fought it until her last day, where she died in the Alexandra Unit, Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary (one of the charities that we are cycling for).As a team we’d  really like to raise as much as possible for both charities.I want to do Mavis proud and keep her memory alive. Cancer is a horrible disease that we still seem unable to tackle head on. The work that they did at the Alexandra Unit was second to none and they treated mavis with the upmost dignity and sincerity. MacMillan Cancer Support offered ongoing support to my girlfriends mum and until now I didn’t realise that 96% of their existence relies on donations! So I guess my reasons for doing this are simple, I want to honour Mavis’s life and help those who helped her.