I will cycle 250 miles coast - coast from Fort William to Montrose over mountains and with a tent over 4 days. All the money will go to Victoria who needs help. In her words:

I am Victoria. I love to dance, cats, enjoy cooking for people and filling my shelves with charity shop books. I have an entire cupboard dedicated to tea, I hate bananas and can generally be found wearing mismatched socks and seeking out adventure.

I have also had Type 1 Diabetes for 26yrs. My body attacks the vital insulin producing cells I need to stay alive. I have been on an insulin pump for the past 3 years which I am attached to 24/7 and is a lot of hard work and maths! I continually have to calculate my insulin every time I eat, exercise, if it is cold, if it is sunny, if I am upset, excited, ill…basically we act as an external pancreas.

There is a piece of medical equipment that would dramatically improve my quality of life. It is called a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) It is attached to me all the time and constantly measures my blood glucose levels (saving me from 15+ finger pricks a day) meaning I always know what my BG is and can react accordingly. It will alarm if it is getting too high or too low. This is particularly beneficial to me because I do not get the usual warning signs of Hypoglacemia (low blood sugar) meaning I fall unconscious, go into shock and hypothermia and require a special injection to bring me round. This is really taxing on the body. This can happen at any time, to date I have had around 30 severe episodes and many smaller ones. It is most dangerous during the night as my cat won’t help!

A CGM would give me back a lot of the independence and confidence I have lost, let me sleep through the night more safely and give me much better control of my diabetes lessening the chances and slowing down diabetes related complications. This equipment is unavailable on the NHS and the costs of self funding are out of my reach - £4000 for the first year.