Cancer man's cycle race
17 July 2008, 10:50
A South African yachtsman and sail maker who is fighting a battle against leukaemia in a British hospital, has launched an epic cycle race to raise funds and awareness for the bone marrow donor organisation.
Mike Coburn, 35, attended Virginia Primary School - where his passion for sailing was sparked - and matriculated from Durban High School before leaving South Africa in 1996 to pursue a professional sailing career.
He began sail making a few years later and was a member of Team Shosholoza's 2007 America's Cup campaign in Valencia, Spain.
Coburn was diagnosed with leukaemia in March 2004 - the same week he learnt that he was to be part of South Africa's first America's Cup challenge.
"Untreated, I was given three to six months to live. Nothing on this planet prepares you for this. I was only 32 years old. Life as I knew it ended in a split second."
Colburn was lucky. A donor was found and he received a transplant. In 2006, he was deemed fit enough to join Shosholoza in Spain.
He never missed work and was always cheerful.
Very few of his teammates knew about his ordeal, that he was still on medication and that he had to fly to Britain every month for a check-up.
They were also unaware that working the gruelling night shift, checking and repairing every seam of every sail that had come off the water to be race-ready for the next day, actually suited him because it helped prevent over-exposure to the sun, which would have jeopardised his transplant.
Coburn began planning his "cycle for leukaemia" earlier this year. He plans to cycle 1 000 miles (1 600km) from one end of Britain to the other - from John O'Groats to Land's End - in November to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust which manages and recruits new bone marrow donors in the United Kingdom.
As a promotional preliminary event, he challenged the 30m record-breaking super maxi yacht Leopard to a race around Britain's Isle of Wight, confident that he could cycle quicker than the Leopard could do it in water.
But, a day before, his health deteriorated and he was admitted to a Southampton hospital with a zero platelet count and internal bleeding.
In an e-mail on Wednesday, Coburn told The Mercury that, in a bid to save his life, doctors have reluctantly begun chemotherapy.
Yet he continues his relentless appeal for sponsorship and promotion of the cycle challenge via e-mail and skype (internet messaging system).
"This is very close to my heart and I know if anything happens to me, my team will continue with it," he said.
The website blog is www.cycle4leukaemia.org and Coburn's e-mail address is seaweed1972@hotmail.com
Mike Coburn, 35, attended Virginia Primary School - where his passion for sailing was sparked - and matriculated from Durban High School before leaving South Africa in 1996 to pursue a professional sailing career.
He began sail making a few years later and was a member of Team Shosholoza's 2007 America's Cup campaign in Valencia, Spain.
Coburn was diagnosed with leukaemia in March 2004 - the same week he learnt that he was to be part of South Africa's first America's Cup challenge.
"Untreated, I was given three to six months to live. Nothing on this planet prepares you for this. I was only 32 years old. Life as I knew it ended in a split second."
Colburn was lucky. A donor was found and he received a transplant. In 2006, he was deemed fit enough to join Shosholoza in Spain.
He never missed work and was always cheerful.
Very few of his teammates knew about his ordeal, that he was still on medication and that he had to fly to Britain every month for a check-up.
They were also unaware that working the gruelling night shift, checking and repairing every seam of every sail that had come off the water to be race-ready for the next day, actually suited him because it helped prevent over-exposure to the sun, which would have jeopardised his transplant.
Coburn began planning his "cycle for leukaemia" earlier this year. He plans to cycle 1 000 miles (1 600km) from one end of Britain to the other - from John O'Groats to Land's End - in November to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust which manages and recruits new bone marrow donors in the United Kingdom.
As a promotional preliminary event, he challenged the 30m record-breaking super maxi yacht Leopard to a race around Britain's Isle of Wight, confident that he could cycle quicker than the Leopard could do it in water.
But, a day before, his health deteriorated and he was admitted to a Southampton hospital with a zero platelet count and internal bleeding.
In an e-mail on Wednesday, Coburn told The Mercury that, in a bid to save his life, doctors have reluctantly begun chemotherapy.
Yet he continues his relentless appeal for sponsorship and promotion of the cycle challenge via e-mail and skype (internet messaging system).
"This is very close to my heart and I know if anything happens to me, my team will continue with it," he said.
The website blog is www.cycle4leukaemia.org and Coburn's e-mail address is seaweed1972@hotmail.com
- This article was originally published on page 6 of The Mercury on July 17, 2008
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