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6:00 AM 3rd August 2020
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Halifax Man Leads National Tube Feeding Charity Campaign

 
Gary
Gary
A 48 year old resident of Greetland, Halifax,is leading a national awareness week campaign for a charity that supports people who rely on artificial nutrition through tube feeding by doing a bespoke home-based cycling challenge designed for the coronavirus era.

Gary, who has lived in Halifax for 24 years, has relied on artificial nutrition since he had an operation to remove a benign tumour from his neck in 2016. He is leading the charity’s awareness week celebrations with a 375 mile off-road cycling challenge using Zwift bike technology in his own home.

He aims to complete the challenge over five and half days, cycling from 9.00am - 4.30pm.

The charity – PINNT -was set up to support patients like Gary who need artificial nutrition. Each year, they run an awareness campaign called Home Artificial Nutrition Week (HAN Week). Gary says, "I was always planning to do an on-road bike challenge to raise awareness of PINNT during this week but my plans were completely derailed by the coronavirus outbreak!

"This is a real challenge for me as I am not a natural cyclist and for such a long challenge I need to think really carefully about my artificial nutrition and make sure that I am properly fuelled.

"I’ve previously run a marathon to raise awareness of tube feeding and that was more within my comfort zone than this, so I’m a bit nervous but proud to take on the challenge!"

Gary was diagnosed after finding a lump in his neck and had a complicated head and neck operation to remove the tumour. He has had more procedures during his recovery to move his vocal cords to restore his voice but still struggles to speak due to paralysis in his tongue.

As well as having completed the London Marathon, Gary has also completed the Yorkshire Marathon, the Yorkshire Three Peaks and The Great North Run all while managing his nutrition on the go.

He plans to undertake more challenges to raise awareness, including global marathons, a sky dive and a coast to coast walk from Blackpool to Bridlington.

Gary says "It is a real privilege to be a PINNT ambassador and to raise awareness in this way. Without PINNT, people like me would not get the support we need to help us go on to achieve our own goals.

"PINNT gives you the opportunity to meet other people who are tube fed and share worries and fears and hopes and dreams with them.

"They’ve been fantastic through the coronavirus outbreak too, when many of us have felt particularly vulnerable."

Gary receives ‘enteral nutrition’ in liquid form through a catheter which is inserted directly into his gastrointestinal tract.

It is estimated that around 47,000people in the UK are dependent on enteral nutrition at home, while around 2,500 rely on parenteral nutrition (where nutrients are delivered directly into the bloodstream) at home.

Carolyn Wheatley, Founder of PINNT says, "Gary embodies the spirit of HAN Week. He has set himself a number of challenges and achieved things which are really quite remarkable for somebody who relies on artificial nutrition.

"Everyone at PINNT has been blown away by his marathon running, and if possible we are even more admiring of his determination with the cycle challenge, knowing how little he likes cycling!

"It would have been easy to walk away when coronavirus hit and he couldn’t train on the road but instead he set about finding a way to fulfil his challenge at home, which is so inspiring. We are enormously grateful to him."

For more information about HAN Week please visit: https://pinnt.com/News/HAN-Week-2020.aspx