Cancer fundraiser completes farewell challenge

A woman with incurable cancer says she has completed her last-ever fundraiser, after 17 years of charity challenges, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Deb Gascoyne was told she would be unlikely to survive more than five years when she was diagnosed with the blood cancer myeloma in 2009.

But on Sunday, she arrived in Paris having cycled 280 miles (450km) in four days .

"The body is feeling a little bit achy," said the 51-year-old from Hagley, Worcestershire. "But the mind is feeling really great. I'm just so proud of everyone that rode and what they achieved."

Gascoyne said their first day, cycling from Blackheath, in London to Folkestone, was long and slow.

"That meant everyone was a little bit sore the following day," she said. "Then we had three great days, but I'd forgotten how hilly France was.

"I'd been telling everyone it was a flat ride with maybe one or two hills and that was a total lie.

"But everyone just kept everyone else going and people supported each other."

After cycling through some slightly inclement weather on the first three days, Gascoyne and her peloton faced "six hours" of rain on the final day.

"That was a bit a bit less enjoyable," she said. "But I was just focused on the end, I knew my family would be there to wave us in and I was so proud of what we'd done.

"I didn't want to let the weather get me down."

Among Gascoyne's cycling squad was her husband Nick, her son Sam, 19, her consultant, Prof Guy Pratt, and two clinical nurses.

"That was really special," she said. "[Pratt] is so knowledgeable and so passionate about making the lives of patients better.

"So having him riding alongside, and being able to talk to him and get to know him more as a person, I felt very privileged to be able to do that."

Gascoyne has been raising money for Myeloma UK since her diagnosis at the age of 34.

When she finished the ride, she and her team had raised more than £70,000 in sponsorship, bringing her fundraising total over the years to more than £300,000.

She said she was adamant this was her last fundraiser and she would instead devote her time to advocacy for fellow myeloma patients.

But she admitted she was nervous about giving up something which had been such a big part of her life for so long.

"We finished at a big roundabout [near] the Eiffel Tower," she added.

"As I came around that and saw my family, I was definitely thinking about the fact that this was it and that I wouldn't be doing it again.

"That is quite a big thing, so it was an emotional experience."

Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.