By Leila Samodien
Before last week, Thomas King hadn't been on a bicycle for more than a year - but he is more than willing to suffer through the strenuous 110km of the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour if it will help to save his brother's life.
King, 24, of Kommetjie, plans to tackle the race to raise money for his brother, Joshua, 11, who has Burkitt's lymphoma.
The illness is a rare blood disorder that attacks the lymph nodes and bone marrow.
Joshua has had to have eight rounds of six-day chemotherapy sessions, and, if he is to live, also needs a stem cell transplant.
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Although Joshua lives with his parents, Kim and Peter, in Durbanville, he spends most of his time at his second home - Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic.
The family has begun to organise a string of events to raise money to cover Joshua's medical expenses and to fund his bone marrow transplant.
King will ride the Cycle Tour as part of their fund-raising project.
He was granted last-minute permission last week to take part in the race.
Since then, King, who has ridden the Cape Argus twice before, has trained twice - one 6km stint and another 18km stint.
However, he refuses to let his lack of sufficient training deter him.
"I'm scared, really nervous," he said, "but it's for Josh - that's a great motivation."
Joshua, who loves riding his bicycle, wasn't convinced that his brother would finish.
"Maybe," he teased.
"It's really nice of Thomas to do this for me, but hopefully I can do it next year with him."
Joshua's parents hoped his case would raise more awareness and prompt people to join the Sunflower Fund's registry to help Joshua and other children like him.
The King family needs about R1-million to cover Joshua's medical expenses, including more than R500 000 for a transplant once they find a bone marrow donor.
So far, they have raised just over R100 000.
To find out more about Joshua's case, email
This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Argus on March 04, 2009
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