Suzie Rush will be 44 next month. She has twin boys who are 21, and a daughter who is 17. She has been married to Mark for 22 years, is a Health and Beauty lecturer at West Suffolk College, and they live in a small Suffolk village. Suzie is, in many ways, an ordinary woman, except in April this year she was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). MND is a rapidly progressive, incurable condition. The cause of MND is unknown.
There is a history of the condition in the family but Suzie never thought it would happen to her. So what does she decide to do after diagnosis?
Instead of collapsing in a heap, as most of us would, she and her best friend of over 20 years, Debs, will ride quad bikes 874 miles from John O’ Groats to Land’s End to raise money for St Nicholas Hospice Care. And so the ‘2PinkLadies challenge’ was born. Not the most standard of reactions after such devastating news, but Suzie is an exuberant, courageous and fabulous woman, who is determined to have fun, live life to the full and give back to her beloved local charity.
Graham Norton has already given his support to the event, “I think Suzie and Debs are fantastic and I wish them well in their challenge. St Nicholas Hospice Care is such a worthwhile cause, because it provides a tremendous service of support and care to the whole local community. Good Luck Pink Ladies”.
Because of her condition, St Nicholas Hospice Care has advised Suzie not to ride the full scheduled five hours a day, so instead a team of family members, friends and Hospice staff and celebrity bottoms will be pulled in to fill her seat, and Suzie will travel some of the way in the support vehicle (drinking pink bubbly she says!).
Suzie explains why she is doing the challenge, “People think a Hospice is a place to go to die, but St Nicholas Hospice Care is so much more than that. It provides care and support for the living, their family and friends, as well as those close to the end of their lives. I know I’ll need them more and more, and they’ll be there, as time goes by. Please try and sponsor our challenge, we want to raise as much money as possible for such a great cause”.
The 2pinkLadies challenge will begin on Saturday 18 October in John O’ Groats, Scotland and arrive in Land’s End, Penzance on Saturday 25 October. The riders, resplendent in pink biker jackets and boots, will be supported by their two husbands. The quad bikes are being kindly sponsored by Greenview Environmental Limited, the Suffolk-based organic waste refinement group.
For details on how you can support the ladies in their challenge, visit www.2pinkladies.co.uk .
Suzie's story was recently featured on local television. Here is her feature from Anglia News:
