Making each hill count in memory of little ruby

8:57am Tuesday 29th December 2009

By Sally Clifford

The death of his four-year-old daughter, Ruby, in 2007 from a rare and aggressive brain tumour was the impetus for firefighter Matt Brady to take on a 4,250-mile unsupported TransAmerica cycle ride.

Following his flight to Virginia last July, funded by Continental Airlines, Matt spent the next seven weeks cycling through some of the most breathtaking sights he has ever seen.

Yorktown, Virginia and Astoria, Oregon were some of the places he cycled through on his charity trek, which was even more poignant than his previous fundraising mission.

Matt was embarking on a charity cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise funds for prostate cancer research after his friend had the disease when Ruby fell ill.

Matt and his partner, Lysa Barnard, noticed that their daughter’s voice changed. They took her to the doctor, but it wasn’t until she began to lose her balance on a holiday that they realised something was seriously wrong.

They took her to see a hospital specialist and a scan revealed an inoperable tumour, but Matt appreciates that the symptoms are often difficult for doctors to spot and that an earlier diagnosis wouldn’t have given their little girl a greater chance of survival as the prognosis for this type of tumour is the same.

Sadly Ruby died shortly after her first dose of treatment. Matt and Lysa are still struggling to accept their loss, but they are even more determined to fund research into brain tumours. Having visited the States before, Matt had the idea for the cycle ride across America, which he spent months planning.

“It wasn’t as traumatic as I expected. I was expecting worse weather and more injuries and I expected it to take longer to get into the groove but it was all straight forward enough,” says Matt.

“By the end of the second day, I was in the Appalachian mountains and I had that Laurel and Hardy song going around in my head, The Blue Ridge Mountains Of Virginia!”

Averaging 85 miles a day, Matt cycled through some of the most amazing places. “All the States were stunning. Wyoming was very scenic and so was Yellowstone. The hills are just so big. There is nobody there in comparison to Britain – it feels like you are always in the middle of nowhere.”

Matt was also mindful of why he was embarking on the challenge. Being away on the anniversary of Ruby’s death and funeral, Matt admits to cycling in tears at times. “A few days I was cycling uphill in tears. She was very much in my mind,” says Matt.

He was able to have a brief break from his bike when his parents came out to meet him. He spent the final leg of his epic journey with a group of eight other cyclists who he met along the way.

“I’d done half of it by myself, and for the last few weeks there was eight of us in a gang and we had a fantastic time.”

Matt had hoped to raise £7,000 for the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust. To his delight he exceeded his expectations raising an astounding £11,000.

The Trust raises money to enable more research to be undertaken into the various types of brain tumours.

Matt, who originates from Bradford, and Lysa have also set up an umbrella trust within the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust in their daughter’s memory.

The Ruby Fund enables family and friends to pool their fundraising. Matt’s mum and her friends held a ‘Ruby Ball’ at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, formerly the Bankfield in Bingley, to boost their fundraising efforts and raise awareness about brain tumours.

The event raised £3,300 and a fundraising golf event that Lysa’s parents were involved in raised £15,000. This money will fund research into brain tumours, particularly those in children.

Matt says local funding is already helping to improve survival rates for children with one of the most aggressive brain tumours. Research at Newcastle University has identified biological markers which has potential to lead to better and more targeted treatments in future.

Scientists have also found the first genetic link to a common childhood brain tumour. Groundbreaking research has pinpointed a rearrangement of DNA which causes around two-thirds of all cases of pilocytic astrocytoma – the most common brain tumour in five to 19-year-olds. This discovery could provide leads for creating better treatments and enable a more accurate diagnosis of the disease.

Collectively, the family have raised £38,000. Their aim, according to Matt, is to reach the £100,000 target.

“That is the target we have come up with, and hopefully we will get there,” says Matt.

Neil Dickson, chairman and founding trustee of the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, which was set up in memory of his 16-year-old daughter who died from a brain tumour, says: “We are enormously grateful for all the hard work that goes into fundraising. It is thanks to the dedicated efforts of people like this that the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust is able to combat years of under-investment in brain tumours, and continue to make major breakthroughs in brain tumour research.”

- For more information about the Ruby Fund, visit braintumourtrust.co.uk/ helping-us/groups/ruby-lois-barnard-brady-fund or to lend your support to Matt’s cycle challenge, visit justgiving.com/mattbrady.