Smiling for Smiddy Challenge

• September 4, 2008
• Special Features
• Editor

If you would like to make a donation to the 2008 Smiling for Smiddy Challenge you can do it online at www.smiddy.org.au.  Once you’re in the webpage click on, ‘How can I help’.  You can make a personal donation, company sponsorship or simply buy a wrist band.  Remember to quote my name, John Milliken, or my partner’s name, Kerry Murnane, when you make a donation online or over the phone.  Please help as it is a very worthy cause.

Brisbane training ride, to ensure readiness for the 200kms per day required for the ride.

Fifty people (including three from Dayboro) will participate in a charity bike ride (road cycle) from Brisbane to Townsville (Home Hill) from the 13^th to the 20^th September 2008.  A journey of 1600 kms.  The ride is a fundraiser for cancer research and organised by the Adam Smiddy Cancer Fund.  The riders will travel 200 kms each day, with no rest days.  The aim is to raise over $400,000.  Each rider must raise a minimum of $2,500 to participate.

Adam Smiddy passed away in 2006 after a short battle against a very aggressive cancer.  He was 26 years of age and in the prime of his life.  Smiddy was a very talented triathlete and a devoted physiotherapist.  The ride is to raise funds for cancer research.  The major beneficiary is the Mater Foundation.

The Mater Foundation will use the money raised to support a melanoma drug trial and prostate cancer research.  It will also support development work on an Integrative Oncology Unit offering complementary therapies to help improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

Why am I involved in this?  This cause is particularly close to my heart as I lost my father on Boxing Day 2007 to melanoma brain tumours.  He was fiercely independent and continually driving himself up and down the East coast of Australia and into the outback at 82 years of age.  Literally a month after this he was immobile and very sick—five months later he died. 

If you have had anything to do with cancer you would testify that it is truly an insidious disease that affects a diverse range of people and all those around them.  We can empathise with anyone that loses a family member or a friend and wouldn’t wish the anguish of watching ‘the cancer battle’ on anyone. 

So we’ll do our small bit to help squash the disease.  We would love some help to raise the funds.

I know there is a lot happening in the world and people are always asked to put their hands in their pockets with monotonous regularity.  But, unless we keep on supporting these causes, progress will advance at a slower rate and more people will go through the agony of dealing with cancer.  The truth is, when your time is over, you won’t be remembered for how much money you made, how many Real Estate deals you closed or how much you made on the Stock Market.  You’ve got a better chance of being remembered for what you contributed to society and what you did for others.

If this cause seems a worthy one to you, then we want you to make a donation.  If the insipid nature of cancer has knocked you, your family or your friends down at some stage in your life and you would love to have a free shot to get square, the news is all bad.  Cancer hasn’t got a face that you can slap or punch.  The only way we know how to help is to actively take part in the research and development for a cure.  Give if you can – who knows, you might we donating to your future wellbeing.