Tate’s Shine A Light Bikeathon

This is Tate’s fourth year of raising money for Nerve Tumours UK, after he was diagnosed with NF and numerous other health problems in 2020.

Tate has never been able to master riding a bike and until his diagnosis, we didn’t know why. He set his mind to learning to be able to complete the Shine A Light marathon in a different way this year.

Last year, Tate walked 100 miles during World NF Awareness Month May. Alongside his mum and siblings, they walked various distances after school and at weekends, with a longer walk during half term at the end of May.

After the success of Tate’s initial fundraising efforts in 2021, when family and friends walked the Shine A Light marathon over the bank holiday weekend, Tate's challenge for 2022 was another Shine A Light Marathon of 26.5 miles, which he did in 2 days! He also held a bake sale at his school. 

Tate is very proactive in finding positives in difficult situations and when he heard about the NTUK Shine a Light Marathon, he immediately wanted to take part to help other people in a similar position to him.

His school were amazing and offered Tate constant support during his diagnosis and are in regular contact for updates and to check in with us as a family, which we really appreciate.

They also sought support from the school resources team at Nerve Tumours UK and found the information pack very useful and informative. I had passed on the link to the school after coming across the site.

The information on the website is not at all scary (unlike on some websites) and it was really reassuring to read stories of families in a similar position to us.