The title may not be terribly catchy, but read on...

MotorbikesToday reader Brian Cunning posted this on the forum, and we thought it was worth following up on. Here's his story:

"Two years ago on the 6th February my best friend was in a serious motorcycle accident involving a collision with a van.

As a result his life had to be saved in Antrim Area Hospital, where his spleen was removed and he had a complete blood transfusion. Once stabilised, the full extent of his injuries were revealed…a broken right femur, broken right arm, broken pelvis, shattered socket of left leg and severe dislocation of same, punctured and collapsed left lung and 5 broken ribs. No head injuries were suffered thanks to the quality of his Arai Quantum F even though the helmet received a massive blow to the right side having hit the 9” roadside kerb.

Thanks to the sterling work of the staff at Antrim Area Hospital ICU followed up by the ICU & Fractures Departments at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast he is on his feet again and making great in roads to swinging his leg over a bike once again.

Having witnessed the accident from close range and attended to him at the scene until the paramedics arrived, I can honestly say, without fear of contradiction, that had it not been for the fact he was wearing his Belstaff one piece armoured leathers, Oxstar boots, Kevlar armoured gloves, Knox back protector, and already mentioned Arai lid, he would not be with us today. (Of course luck and his level of fitness also played a big part too, but prevention by means of best protection possible helps reduce the healing needed)

Now that this is behind him (and to a certain degree behind me as well), we are about to launch a fundraising campaign with an overall target of £20,000 to be split across 3 hospital trusts close to our hearts, and of course Riders 4 Health.

I have set myself the daunting challenge to ride from Ballymoney Northern Ireland to 15 Capital cities in Northern Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic in just 7 days.

Whilst we do not expect you to contribute to the hospital fund due to our locality, we would appreciate if you would consider contributing to Riders 4 Health and you can do so very painlessly through this link……………..

http://www.justgiving.com/Enduro-Cap15-7

I will keep you guys posted from time to time on how the fund is growing and of course on the actual challenge itself, before and after via this site and a dedicated website for Enduro Cap15-7.

Take care, safe biking and we hope you will contribute, and remember no matter how small or large your donation may be it will all be received with the same appreciation."

We like charitable causes here, and ones bordering on lunacy appeal to us even more. As soon as we've got more information we'll get it up here, but in the meantime remember that Riders 4 Health is a truly international organisation. So wherever you are and whatever you do to live, ride and survive, there are some things that make us all the same. You. Me. Them. Everybody.

There's a prize on offer for the first person to mail in the source of that last line.

Now go on - one click could make a huge difference to someone's life. Why not give it a try?

MBT

June 2007 Update - from the horse's mouth, so to speak...

Just a line to update you on the progress of my challenge.

So far to date we have raised over £10,000.00 in donations and we are fairly optimistic of hitting the mid to high teens before we close out the fund at the end of July.

I start the challenge from the Joey Dunlop Memorial in Ballymoney at 6.30am on Saturday 16th June 2007.

I have just finished a shake down of all my helmet cam and audio kit on the bike yesterday, with some stunning video, so hopefully it will hold up for the trip.

If you would like to read more about the challenge, you can check out my webpage, where i have an interactive map which indicates the route and shows the landmarks which i will stop at in each capital. Further more these pics will be updated/replaced daily with pics of me actually at the landmark, as i make my way round europe.

website url:         http://endurocap.co.uk

Many thanks for your interest.

Brian