JAMES Temple loves his mum to the moon and back - and now he’s going to prove it with an Easter Monday charity bike ride around the 'solar system'.

The arrival of a new bike for his birthday last November has given James the impetus to put his pedal power to the test for a cause which is very much close to his and his family’s heart.

James’ mum, Amy Lyons, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in February last year.

Determined to support his mum, and also to raise the profile of this devastating disease, James decided to get on his bike.

He discovered the annual charity bike ride run by the local brain tumour charity, BTRS (Brain Tumour Research and Support Across Yorkshire).

The charity, based in Leeds, was originally known as Andrea’s Gift and was set up in memory of Bradford mum Andrea Key.

Amy explained James was too young to participate in the charity ride so he, along with her boyfriend Andy Hatton, came up with cycling the ‘solar system’ in York, a scale model of the solar system spread out across 13.4 miles on the Old East Coast mainline railway.

To prepare James for his cycling challenge, which he will undertake on Easter Monday, April 17, Andy has been accompanying him on bike rides along the local canal.

“I think it will be a challenge for them both but I am so proud,” says Amy.

Since setting up his Just Giving page, James has been overwhelmed with support. “We set a target of £300 and he got that within 12 hours so we decided to up it to £600 but it reached that target within another 12 hours so we increased it to £1,000,” explains Amy.

You can support James on his JustGiving page at justgiving.com/fundraising/Amy-Lyons1

To James’ delight, his supporters have now helped him exceed that target.

His excitement and appreciation are captured in his beaming smile and warm words of thanks in video footage Amy shared with me on her mobile phone during our chat at the family home in Wrose, Shipley.

The family are keen to raise as much money as possible to help those in similar circumstances, as well as raise the profile of this devastating disease.

For Amy there were no obvious symptoms other than occasionally feeling light-headed.

She explains how she felt faint for a matter of seconds but this was something she had experienced over a long period of time. She certainly never perceived it to be an indication of anything serious.

“I started feeling faint but not as far as fainting, light-headedness, but I had had that for years and put it down to hormones like we do, shrugged it off a bit,” says the 36-year-old.

When the symptoms became more frequent, Amy went to see the doctor. She was sent for tests which indicated epilepsy, but with absences, not seizures.

Amy, who is also mum to 14-year-old daughter Megan, was referred to see a neurologist at the Yorkshire Clinic at Cottingley, Bingley.

Further investigations included an MRI scan which led to the diagnosis of a brain tumour.

Around 9,000 new cases of primary brain tumours are diagnosed in the UK each year.

Across the county and the Humber, it is estimated there are 1,000 patients diagnosed each year; around 50 of these will be children.

Currently, brain tumours cannot be prevented because their cause is still unknown.

“Devastated” was the word Amy used to sum up the diagnosis.

“I felt like they had maybe got it wrong. I didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with me,” says Amy.

She had an operation at Leeds General Infirmary in May last year. She is continuing her treatment at St James’s hospital in Leeds, including radiotherapy, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy which will last for around a year.

“I do feel it’s a bit like I am living someone else’s life. It has put a spanner in the works,” she says, referring to the fact that she has been forced to give up her job in laser hair and tattoo removal.

But she says the diagnosis did make her put her life into perspective.

“It gave me a kick up the backside,” she says. “I do so much more now and I make the most of everything.”

One of her recent birthday gifts from her parents was a helicopter ride for the family and last summer they enjoyed a holiday at Zip World, believed to feature the longest zipline in Europe and the fastest in the world in North Wales.

“Those are the sort of things I probably wouldn’t have tried - now I have got a different perspective. If you want to do something, just do it,” says Amy.

Sorrell Coulson, BTRS events and fundraising manager, says ‘it was totally inspiring’ that James was taking on the Solar System Cycle in York to raise funds for BTRS, a charity she says she knows is so close to James and his family’s hearts.

“On Easter Monday, a day when many children will be relaxing and enjoying their chocolate Easter eggs, James will be jumping on his bike and cycling 13.4 miles for charity, what an incredible boy!

“Working for BTRS, I am inspired every day by the strength and positivity of our fundraisers and their families, who are often facing such challenging times.

“We wish James the very best of luck in his Solar System Cycle.”

For more information about BTRS, call 0113 340 0111, e-mail: info@btrs.org.uk or visit btrs.org.uk

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