A HOSPITAL anaesthetist has been inspired by a nurse’s cancer battle to take part in a charity challenge to raise money for a suite for chemotherapy patients.
Dr Chris Mowatt, consultant anaesthetist at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, will be cycling and rowing the distance from Redditch to Paris on December 20 to raise money for the Garden Suite, which treats chemotherapy patients at the Alexandra Hospital.
The first part of the challenge will take place on a static cycling machine, pedalling the equivalent of Redditch to Dover.
Chris will then hop onto a rowing machine to get across the English Channel and then back onto the bike for the remaining distance, Calais to Paris.
This is a total distance of just over 400 miles which Chris hopes to achieve in about 30 hours.
Dr Mowatt has been motivated and inspired by a nurse battling cancer and his challenge will be monitored by researchers at the University of Worcester. He said: “Being diagnosed with cancer can have a devastating impact on someone, and their friends and family.
“I was determined to do something to make a difference and thought by putting myself through this endurance challenge people would be encouraged to donate to such a good cause.”
He is also teaming up with the sport and exercise science department at the University of Worcester.
Students from the department have already been helping him with his training developments and will be undertaking detailed monitoring of the endurance attempt as a research case study.
Throughout the challenge they hope to find out what is happening to his muscles and mood state and see what effect nutrition is having on his performance.
Louise Martin, principal lecturer from the University of Worcester, said: “Chris’s endurance challenge is a great opportunity for us to develop links with the local NHS trusts.
“We hope that some of the data collected during the challenge may help to inform others about the physical and mental demands of charity endurance events.”
If you would like to sponsor Dr Mowatt in his quest you can do so by going online and visiting justgiving.com/redditchtoparis.