On Friday 7th February, Luke Grenfell-Shaw visited us to talk to the Sixth Form about his journey cycling from Bristol to Beijing.
In 2018 Luke was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, a rare and aggressive sarcoma. Having always lived an active lifestyle, Luke found exercise to be vital for him to continue to live positively and healthily. Exercise gave Luke physical and mental strength to carry on, and he told us that without it, he wouldn’t have been able to complete his Master’s at the University of Oxford whilst undergoing chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.
Luke has coined a new term to describe a person living with cancer: CanLiver; someone facing the uncertainty and challenge of cancer on a daily basis, yet acknowledging that we can live with cancer, richly and fully.
Starting in January 2020, Luke is cycling from Bristol to Beijing on a tandem, accompanied by other ‘CanLivers’ who will join him on various legs of the journey. FHS’s Mrs Price joined Luke for a 230km journey in January 2020 riding from Bristol to Worcester, via Cardiff and Ross-on-Wye.
If you have any contacts on route with schools, universities, people wanting to join or simply offer a bed for the night then please do contact the team at contact@bristol2beijing.org as Luke would be delighted to continue to build a network of connections outside the UK and share his message as widely as possible.
To read more about Luke’s expedition and to donate, click here.