This year marks a big milestone in Row's life as she turns 40, and there's nothing she wants more than the gift of better health. As a united group of loved ones, we are embarking on a mission to raise £40,000 throughout 2024 to fund Row’s healing journey, donate to vital medical research and support others suffering from this cruel condition.

Row, our dear friend and endless adventurer with a contagious lust for life, is battling severe M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), a condition that has significantly impacted her life in every way. She was last able to leave the house in December 2021 and has been entirely bed-bound since then. Row requires full time care and support with all daily tasks like washing and eating. Due to extreme light, sound and touch sensitivities, Row has spent much of that time in silence in a dark room. We’ve had only a handful of conversations over the past year and somehow Row is keeping the strength to persevere through the pain. The curtains are now open and she is able to just about hold eye contact at times, but we have a long way to go yet.

Unfortunately, due to M.E. research being so poorly funded and a lack of medical services, individuals like Row are left to navigate this complex landscape on their own. We're on a mission to change this and we need your help. Choose your way to make a difference:

Show your support by following our progress on Instagram at @40for40Campaign
Help us achieve our goal by providing a donation to this campaign
Go above and beyond by organising your own fundraising event or challenge.

Your generous donations will have a huge impact, we’ll make sure of it. They’ll be used to:

Let's make Row's 40th birthday memorable for all the right reasons. Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to our £40,000 goal and is a powerful message of solidarity, showing Row and other M.E. sufferers that they are not alone in this battle.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

With love and gratitude,
The 40 for 40 team.

Support Row’s recovery: Access to testing and possible treatments unfortunately comes with a hefty price tag. We’re determined to do everything we can to support our adventure seeking, fun loving friend’s journey to better health and improve her quality of life along the way.

2. Fund research: M.E. is one of the most poorly understood medical conditions. A portion of the donations will be dedicated to essential research that aims to improve knowledge and identify possible treatments.

3. Support other sufferers: Adjusting to life with M.E. is challenging and isolating and we’ve learnt a lot through Row’s journey. We have plans to create and distribute care packages for other sufferers to help in a practical way and remind them they are not alone.

At Acorns Children’s Hospice, our dedicated teams provide specialist palliative care for life limited and life threatened babies, children and young people, and support for their families. This support is offered from our three hospices, as well as in the family home and community.

We understand that family time is precious when a child’s life is limited, and we support families in any way we can to create lasting memories. Our dedicated team offers psychological, emotional and practical support. Our team of health and social care professionals provide a range of services, including bereavement support and advocacy, as well as several dedicated support groups, helping to reduce the isolation some families can face.
The need for children’s hospice care never stops, which is why we are here to provide specialist palliative care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Acorns' key audiences are people who live or work across the West Midlands region, who care about children, health and their local community.
Our Black Country Hospice in Walsall supports children and families across Wolverhampton and beyond, and this marks a fantastic opportunity for the Aberdovey Bike Ride to be associated with a much-loved local children's charity. This would demonstrate your commitment to the local community and reach a potential new audience.

We would be delighted to support you in developing your reputation as a socially responsible company, enabling you to build deeper networks and connections with your audience by directly supporting the local community where the event takes place.

We build relationships that last with our valued partners, and their support allows us to provide specialist care and support for the children and families who need us. By choosing Acorns Children’s Hospice as your charity partner, your organisation can make a meaningful difference.

All funds raised would go directly to support our vital care and support services for local children, and their families.

In the past year, Acorns has:
> cared for 757 children across the West Midlands
> delivered 1,053 Outreach visits through our specialist care teams
> supported over 200 brothers and sisters through our Sibling Workers
> provided over 1,000 hydrotherapy sessions for life-limited and life-threatened children
> provided 15,214 instances of emotional and practical support through our Family Services team

Hospice care is needed more than ever. There are a growing number of children in our gion living longer, with more complex needs. We believe children's hospice care should be available to every single one of them, wherever and whenever they need it.

The vast majority of our funding at Acorns, almost 70%, comes from the generosity of the local community, and partnering with local organisitions.

We would be so grateful for the opportunity to partner with the iconic Aberdovey Bike Ride to help us reach even more children and families who need our care and support.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this disease. We are a leading voice calling for support and action for research into what is called the last battleground against cancer.

A close family member (my girlfriend’s uncle) recently passed away from a glioblastoma. With only 1% of the national spend on this disease, fundraising has to be done to help fund research and development for cures. It would be amazing if you would consider brain tumour research for the Aberdovey bike ride as I will also be taking part next year. Thank you.

Helping develop the next generation of researchers ultimately focusing on all types of brain tumour
Significantly accelerate the progress of brain tumour research within the UK in order to make a real clinical difference, through the funding of our dedicated Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence
To fund a network of Centres
Increase awareness of the lack of funding for brain tumour research in order to stimulate a greater investment by the Government and larger cancer charities
Improve the clinical outcomes for brain tumour patients

I'm local to Wolverhampton and was thinking about signing up for the ride to aberdovey and noticed that you choose different charities each year.

Now, I've been diagnosed with stage 4 rare cancer called EHE in my liver and lungs up to 6.4cm.

Anyway, it's a very small charity ran by a guy called Hugh Leonard who I can get you his details if need be. His wife has it and he set up the charity to try and fight it.

There isn't any events that they run in the Midlands (they only do 2 London based events a year) and it would be great to get some much needed support as it is a very small charity and only 1 in a million people get it. 1 in 5 million males. So I won the lotto I guess.

Number one is research. But the charity help a great deal of people through a tough part of life. The research is very expensive and we have some promising trials coming through but they need the funds to continue this through to development

This charity is very special to us as our daughter has Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS). PWS is a complex genetic condition which can cause many symptoms including an insatiable hunger, obesity, low muscle tone, orthopaedic issues, learning difficulties, developmental delays, speech difficulties, mental health challenges, sleep apnoea, behaviour outbursts, skin picking and many more.
There is no cure for PWS and the research is vital for finding ways to treat the many elements of PWS. FPWR UK is a charity dedicated to raising funds to support research in this area. As a rare condition without funding from charity advances cannot be made and we are working hard to ensure all avenues of this condition are explored.
The current position is that the majority of adults with PWS cannot live an independent life, in large parts down the there insatiable appetite. With PWS the stomach does not ‘tell’ the brain when it is full and therefore the person constantly feels hungry on a level of starvation. This can lead to obesity and also the risk of overeating leading to a life threatening stomach rupture. Food often needs to be locked away and meals managed by parents and carers. This heavily restricts the lives of those with PWS. If research can find solutions and therapies for this element of PWS it will make a huge difference to the lives of the people living with PWS and their families. Additionally research is also needed to develop ways to manage the list of other symptoms such as behaviour, skin picking and scoliosis.
This charity is so important to us as it gives us hope that our daughter will be able to have a brighter future, with more understanding of her condition and treatment options available that allow her to lead a full and happy life.

Money is used by FPWR UK to fund research projects that have been submitted to and approved by a global scientific board.
This last year FPWR UK supported two projects, one which is testing a device that stimulates the Vagus Nerve to help control emotional outbursts and temper tantrums. The results of the small initial study made me emotional to read as the changes in the lives were fantastic by managing this symptom. This study is testing these devices on a larger scale to then hopefully make them available to the PWS public worldwide.
FPWR UK have also supported an amandine study at Cambridge University whereby the hypothalamus in the PWS brain is being ‘mapped’ so it can be compared to a typical hypothalamus. This part of the brain has long been thought to be a main contributor to many of the symptoms of PWS but it is not yet understood how. This research can hopefully then be used by many other researchers worldwide to investigate new ways to tackle PWS.

The Jake Morris foundation is a newly formed charity established in 2023 after the sudden passing of Jake Morris, from tettenhall wolverhapton, after an epileptic seizure on the morning of his wife to be’s hen do. We are awaiting a charity number as the registration is currently in process.

Jake was an adventure loving man, and at just 30 years old lived life to the fullest. He was kind, loving and the first one to help anyone who needed it. The foundation has been set up to help and give relief financially or physically to families of those effected by the sudden death of a young person. (Age 18-40) We have currently raised over £10,000 to start the charity off after completing the 3 peaks challenge and Jake himself used to love completing the aberdovey bike ride with his dad and friends each year. We would be so honoured to be considered and already have a team of 15 riders ready to cycle, including Jake’s wife to be on Jake’s bike. We would love to get our new charity out to the public to help as many people as we can in Jake’s honour.

To help families effected by the sudden death of a young person ages 18-40 in the midland area. Whether that be with funeral costs, therapy costs, counselling, housing costs or any other area which we can ease the pain even just a little bit.

Katharine House Hospice’s aim is to enable patients with life limiting conditions to live life as fully as possible and make the most of the time that they have, as well as supporting their loved ones.
The care is free and provided where and when it is needed most – in the community, at home, or at our hospice. All of our services are offered free of charge. As a charity they rely on the kindness and generosity of the local community to help generate 2/3rds of the funds needed (approx £3m each year) to continue the care.

As a charity, Katharine House will continue to :-
Provide free, high quality, responsive specialist palliative care and end of life care to people in mid-Staffordshire
Provide services based on peoples’ needs and the capacity to meet these needs
Focus on excellence, quality of care, and quality of life, especially dignity
Offer support in the hospice, at home, and in other community settings including nursing homes
Recognise that the staff and volunteers remain our greatest resource

Numbers affected by young suicide

Charity

My father diagnosed with disease.

To improve lives.

It is something we should support given we had an incident last year that required the services of the Air Ambulance.
Wales Air Ambulance is under financial pressure, facing cutbacks and possible closesure. It would be a savvy move in terms of further endearing locals to the event

Running and funding helicopter flights