It is not every day you read in the paper, watch on TV or come across an Executive who would take time off his schedule, spend over a month day in and day out pedaling across 4,000 kilometers from Perth to Sydney with the intention of raising funds to help a 6-year-old girl recover, if not progress, from an episode which stalled her development at the age of 18 months from being a normal little girl.
Simon Fletcher of Interchange Ltd started his journey at Fremantle, Western Australia, at the end of May and finishing this grueling ride at the end of June in Bondi, New South Wales.
From the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Geographically, the distance is almost the same as that between Port Vila and Sydney- but on a bike, under the Aussie sun and the never ending road ahead, sleeping road side by camp or stopping at accommodation where available and experiencing a few broken tyres and malfunctions along the way.
His only interaction would be emus or another freak bike rider who was crazy enough to be doing the same thing or truckers who would tell him how many people have died trying to do what he is doing.
Accomplishing a task not so simple as this would require months of daily training to build up endurance capacity– Simon did a few bike rides from town to Eton throughout the year. His four kids and wife visited him in Hay, NSW, where he still had over 700kms to go.
As much as this is a great personal achievement, Simon’s objective was to create funds for an employee’s daughter, Tetuanui Teahiu, who was born a normal and healthy beautiful baby girl but at the age of 18 months old experienced a digestive shock which resulted in a halt in her development as she constantly regurgitated unable to keep food down and unable to utilize her motor skills was incapable to progress as a normal child who could not walk or talk for 4 years. Despite the difficulties she faced, her loving parents’ determination through faith and prayer that one day she would fully recover.
A Go Fund Me campaign was created to raise funds in order to provide Tetuanui the opportunity to get a proper diagnosis overseas on her condition so at the very least find ways to better improve her quality of life. The campaign raised AUD 6,450.
Simon’s wife, Cidell Fletcher, alongside her very good friend Katherina Koloreff, visited Tetuanui and her mother at their residence in Salili in Port Vila during their holiday with Chanelle Bjornum, an employee of Simon Fletcher, to gain of her perspective of her situation which Katerina’s fiancé (who is in the medical field) would assess and advise how they would put forward Tetuanui’s case. Together they collaborated to act as the liaison point between the overseas medical team and Tetuanui’s parents. READ MORE
SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST
