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Gkam84 needs a trike to ride and help him deal with early Parkinson’s – he’s 28 FFS

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  • November 17, 2012 at 12:18 pm #17285
    alotronic

    Completely by chance I clicked on Gkan84’s sig, wondering what it was about.

    Turns out he (Keith) is suffering early onset Parkinson’s and is after money to buy himself a recumbent trike so he can keep riding. He’s 28.

    By the look of it he’s only had his fundme page open for a short while. I suspect he’s being polite and not putting a direct link to it himself on the forum just yet?!

    He’s chosen a nice trike to aim for:
    http://www.icetrikes.co/explore-our-trikes/sprint#

    So, first of all wouldn’t hurt to give the Keith a little money would it? I’ve started the pot with a measly tenner, but I figure there’s quite a few of us here for whom a tenner represents just about nothing, so… it’s paypal so use a bit of your ‘bike fund’ like I did!

    Secondly maybe we can find a way of getting something similar second hand or for a discount somewhere?

    http://www.gofundme.com/Gkam84

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Viewing 15 replies - 91 through 105 (of 113 total)
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  • November 20, 2012 at 1:32 am #706751
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    Gkam84

    Just a quick thank you to
    Just a quick thank you to everyone before I get some shut eye. I am sitting on 20% of my goal. Your support has been amazing, Little did I know how wonderful the cycling community could been until I started this.

    Tomorrow’s mission…..Target the emotional side of some people in the “anti-cycle” section of society. I don’t mean the white van man and people who cut us up all the time. But people who have given us bad press lately. For instance Karmarama agency and others of the same ilk, who might be looking for a good story after their bad reputation with cycling recently.

    If you can think of anyone, give me a shout 😉

    November 19, 2012 at 6:42 pm #706749
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    Gkam84

    Yeah I know, that does
    Yeah I know, that does include my adding £350 towards the total in “offline” donation’s after checking my bank balance. 😉

    I don’t know if that shows up properly on the page, I will be putting that in an update tonight at some point.

    I do understand ICE’s stance though, they aren’t a huge multinational like some other bike manufacturers. Unfortunately, there are no recumbent multinational’s to go and speak to about it either. That’s why I decided to raise money on my own.

    What do people think of the video? 😕

    November 19, 2012 at 6:37 pm #706747
    0
    notfastenough

    Oh well, worth a try. Still,
    Oh well, worth a try. Still, you’re at 19% already, so there’s lots to be positive about.

    November 19, 2012 at 4:19 pm #706745
    0
    Gkam84

    I got a reply from ICE Trikes
    I got a reply from ICE Trikes 🙁

    Dear Keith,

    Thank you for your enquiry.

    ICE receives many requests from for financial help every year. Although we would love to help we cannot support everyone and it wouldn’t be fair to choose one person over another. Instead we support charities in their work to enable people to cycle by donating a trike. Last year we donated a trike to the Challenged Athletes Foundation who have done a great job in hosting trike taster sessions, rehabilitation clinics and support groups. This has meant that lots of people have benefited from the donation and have gone on to achieve their sporting and fitness goals.

    I also work with riders to raise awareness for the charities they support. For example I have recently helped Joe Beaumont in his efforts to raise money for the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team by posting information on our Facebook pages and writing articles for our blog.

    Your nearest dealer is Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh. Dave is very knowledgeable and will give you great advice and organise test rides for you. However, he is a small independent retailer so I don’t think he will be able to set up a payment plan for you.

    I am sorry that we cannot help you in but please keep in touch; there may be some way we can assist you in the future.

    November 19, 2012 at 2:32 pm #706743
    0
    Gkam84

    Thank you Kingrolo.
    Trust me
    Thank you Kingrolo.

    Trust me when I say, no-one has shed more tears than myself over there. I took me two weeks to finally publish this after reading it every night and then thinking “nah, no-one cares” and then the past couple of days when donation’s come in, its really astounding to know that people who don’t know me, still care.

    Today I’ve got so many retweets from pro cyclists. The list about could at least be doubled. A few tweets of support aswell and some Spanish/Portuguese person using some dodgy language and dropping the F word at me because I was asking for retweets and that I was begging for followers on twitter. I don’t think he quite understood.

    I have also emailed ICE on their generic “sales” email address to see what they might be able to do to help.

    I have suggested a payment plan to them, starting with a deposit of my own £350 savings (which I have added to the goal) and the £210 I’ve received in donation’s so far.

    With any further donations and some of my benefit’s paying off the rest of the cost. Hopefully they can put something like that in place for me. But we’ll see.

    I am hopefully that my link and story will be up on another forum I use alot that isn’t cycling related. After asking the owners permission because they have a strict “no charity/begging or self advertising” rule. But from a chat with them, they are willing to adjust the rule’s to enable me to post my story.

    I’ve been using that site for 8 years and am quite well known. They have a user base of over 15k and around 5k active, So even if they all donated 50p, I’d make my goal.

    Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to repay all your kindness by getting a trike and doing video’s and blog posts for you all to read, whether that be here or starting my own blog.

    November 19, 2012 at 1:16 pm #706741
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    Kingrolo

    Wow, I’ve just read your
    Wow, I’ve just read your funding page and finding it difficult not to cry sat at my office desk. It puts the complaining phone call I got earlier chasing a report I was supposed to write last week into perspective. Good luck on your fundraising. I’m pretty sure it wont be long until you’re way over your target.

    November 19, 2012 at 7:46 am #706739
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    Gkam84

    Finally finished the video.
    Finally finished the video. Let me know what you guys think. I’m not sure about it.

    http://gofundme.com/Gkam84

    Thanks for all the support received so far. Going to hit twitter hard again this afternoon with more pro cyclist’s. Hopefully some more retweets in the offing after I reached my limit on tweets yesterday 👿

    November 18, 2012 at 10:17 pm #706737
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    Gkam84

    Positivity was never my
    Positivity was never my strong suit, but this weekend has given my unlimited positive things. Just getting tweets and support has been amazing. Donation’s at sitting at £125 which has stunned me.

    I’ve also has a couple of emails regarding features/interviews. Which I’m thinking about. I didn’t know people would be interested. I need to look at the properly, because I don’t want to end up in a Karmarama style stunt.

    Today I’ve had retweets from all these people and gone right up to my tweet limit for today 😕

    Yanto Barker
    Wesley Kreder
    Amy Dombroski
    Simon Geschke
    Gabriella Day
    Marijn de Vries
    Tosh Van der Sande
    Christian Heule
    Sergio Pardilla
    Bert Grabsch
    Russell Hampton
    Filippo Pozzato
    Kenny De Ketele
    Benat Intxausti
    Haimar Zubeldia
    Steven de Jongh
    Emma Trott
    Giovanni Visconti
    Eros Capecchi
    Xavier Florencio

    November 18, 2012 at 10:17 pm #706735
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    Gkam84

    Thank you TheHatter
    Thank you TheHatter 😀

    Pisiform, you make a great point there for anyone else reading this whom may suffer from a disability that means they need help with travelling or living in general.

    Unfortunately, I was told by the benefits centre to try for this part of the benefit, but after having the medical tests. I failed to be eligible because “I do not need help to walk, I can walk a good distance and do not need guidance or supervision outdoors”

    I tried to appeal this because of my anxiety, I cannot travel on public transport alone, but this was rejected on the grounds the my granny has a car. I don’t know why that comes into it. But I am not going to go and challenge it again at the moment. Until I’ve spoken to the benefits centre who advised me to try for it.

    November 18, 2012 at 10:02 pm #706733
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    Pisiform

    Gkam- you may have already
    Gkam- you may have already done this but if you have significant anxiety and can’t use publictransport and now have a confirmed diagnosis of PD then you should be eligible for the mobility component of disability living allowance.

    If you’ve applied and failed then appeal the decision. Everyone fails now and you must remember this has nothing to do with medical need and everything to do with politics.

    The money could be enough to cover a monthly payment towards a recumbent bike at the lower rate. People on the higher rate buy cars with it.

    Welfare rights organisations are helpful in sorting out applications.

    November 18, 2012 at 9:51 pm #706731
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    TheHatter

    Donation made – hope ur soon
    Donation made – hope ur soon out on the road again.

    November 18, 2012 at 9:29 pm #706729
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    Gkam84

    Yeah Revo, its a great frame
    Yeah Revo, its a great frame that I’ve built into a bike, unfortunately I just can’t ride it anymore. :”(

    Thank you so much for your donation

    November 18, 2012 at 9:22 pm #706727
    0
    therevokid

    Wondered why the Allez frame
    Wondered why the Allez frame went back on the market so soon …. now I know – a little extra coming your way 🙂

    November 18, 2012 at 7:42 pm #706725
    0
    antonio

    I saw this article a while
    I saw this article a while ago, amazing, reminds me of a year ago when I could hardly stand first thing in the morning, doctor told me I had an inner ear infection affecting my balance, while on my bike I had no problem, cheers and keep staying positive GK.

    November 18, 2012 at 1:26 am #706723
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    Gkam84

    Just seen this, very
    Just seen this, very interesting article. Even for the big G. Now I want to understand why I can’t cycle upright, yet this 58 year old can. Got the DR’s on Thursday, so will investigate

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/nov/18/cycling-parkinsons-wellcome-prize-catherine-hess

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