Tarick's 50km Ride for Research

My name is Tarick Biddlecombe Sullivan, I am 9 years old and live in Darwin, Australia. I want to help my Mum raise money to fund research for a very rare cancer she was diagnosed with called Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma (EHE)

I am hosting a fundraiser for mum, a 50km ride, from Adelaide River to Batchelor down Old Coach Road dressed as Boba Fett from Star Wars on Saturday 18th June 2016.
My mum saved up for a year and bought a 3-wheel recumbent bike off Gumtree, I hope that she will join me in this event. Next year I plan on doing a 100km ride, just testing the water this year to see if mum can ride 50km. It will be a challenge for me, but I want to push myself in honour of my mum.

My mum and I used to regularly go on off road bike rides together. In September 2014 she was in so much pain she couldn’t even get on her bike. She thought it was a pulled muscle but it turned out to be a very rare tumour on her bones and lungs.

My mum had to have chemotherapy and radiation and during this time she was really sad because we couldn’t go on bike rides together anymore. Even going for a walk was hard. But things have gotten better since she finished. Her hair has grown back and she is able to walk easily again. I still help her do things around the house; she said it is hard to bend over and pick up toys. Not sure I believe her.

I hope you can donate some money to help find a cure for my mum’s cancer and to help other people so they don’t have to go through what my mum went through.

Thank you, Tarick Biddlecombe Sullivan

Hi, Jane here ?
I am so proud of Tarick for coming up with such a great idea to host this event on my behalf. We were talking one day in March, anxiously awaiting delivery of my 3-wheel recumbent bike when he came up with the idea. We were Star Wars mad at that time hence the idea of riding in costumes.

Any donations are tax deductible – visit my Foundations website to find out more. www.ehefoundation.com.au

RARE CANCER RESEARCH AND IMPACTS ON COMMON CANCERS
The last 20 years has seen no real improvement in the treatment or survival rates of rare cancers, this is a direct result of lack of funding.
Whilst the media lead us to believe that a cure for cancer is just around the corner, this is not so for rare cancers. Without vital funding for research we will not be able to successfully learn about

? Prevention
? Diagnosis and prognosis
? Treatment

A growing trend is emerging that shows more people are being diagnosed with rare cancers than ever before. Even common cancers such as breast, lung, melanoma and prostate cancers can be classified as rare once they are classified according to specific molecular mutations. This explains why some patients respond well to treatments and others do not.

Research into rare cancers / sarcomas may unravel the mysteries currently eluding researchers into understanding more common cancers.

There is only one researcher, Dr Brian Rubin MD PhD researching EHE. He is a world renowned pathologist and medical researcher based at the Cleveland Clinic. In 2013 he made an important breakthrough and identified the specific gene fusion associated with EHE and is now actively developing EHE cell lines that can be used to support further research into EHE. EHE receives no funding and so far breakthroughs in EHE have been funded by patients, family and friends.