Richard Gill, who lives close to Brighton and has recently retired, volunteered on the finish line at our flagship London to Brighton Bike Ride event and shares his story with us.
Although this is Richard’s first time volunteering with the BHF, Richard is no stranger to volunteering or the London to Brighton Bike Ride. An avid volunteer in his local community, Richard decided that this year he would support at the 55-mile bike ride, making a change from him saddling up and participating in the race himself!
Richard has spent fifteen years cycling in the event, initially inspired by his office full of “young people often doing marathons and always dishing out their sponsorship forms”. Fancying a bit of fundraising, Richard first signed up to London to Brighton in 1999. At the time, he had no particular connection to the BHF.
Unfortunately this all changed ten years ago, when his son, who was only 20 at the time and studying at university, had a sudden cardiac arrhythmic attack whilst at the gym.
“It was completely out of the blue. My son was at the gym and everything was fine. Until suddenly, he suffered a risk of loss of life. An instructor at the gym brought him back to life using a defibrillator.”
Ten years later, Richard’s son now has a defibrillator fitted inside his chest and is living a happy normal life. After research carried out at Barts Hospital, Richard discovered that his son has Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle which affects its size, shape or thickness.
Richard explained that having this personal connection to the BHF inspired him to keep getting involved with the bike ride over the years.
This year, Richard was given the role of volunteering at the finish line and thanking the cyclists in the megaphone as they passed it.
“The best part for me was meeting and thanking the participants as they crossed the finish line. It gave me the opportunity to say my personal thanks to them for raising money for the BHF which is helping to support research for people like my son, which is just fantastic.”
He continued, “I just want to say that the BHF is awesome, particularly the behind the scenes work and the academics carrying out their research into Cardiomyopathy, amongst many other things. Thank you!”