Stenhousemuir cancer survivor off on his bike again to coin in cash for good cause

Last year John Dirom completed his four-year mission to visit all 68 inhabited islands of Scotland and also managed to bring his cycling mileage total – which included a trip to Cuba – to well over 2022 to 3022 and raised £17268 for Blood Cancer UK.John said: “This year I'm doing something similar, but for Strathcarron Hospice. I'm looking to cycle 3023 miles including a cycle in Vietnam and Cambodia in November. I'm also looking to cycle around Scotland and have restarted my island hopping again.

"I'm hoping to raise in excess of £14500 over the year, which is a day’s running costs for Strathcarron. I'm having a few fundraising events in the cricket club again, a quiz on February 24, a charity night May 19 with live music from a friend of mine Johnny Madison and a couple of things later in the year."

The retired community psychiatric nurse from Stenhousemuir began his fund raising endeavours in the 1990s when his uncle sadly died from cancer. John has also lost his mum Betty and brother Ian to cancer.

Then, in 2018, he was hit by another bombshell when he himself was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia.

Last year he told The Falkirk Herald: “I was lucky because it was a form of cancer where the prognosis was good. I had an intensive course of chemo in April last year and then I got sepsis, which saw me in hospital for 11 days.”

It was during this time John came up with the idea of raising funds for Blood Cancer UK – a charity formed in 1960 which has invested over £500 million in blood cancer research and is dedicated to supporting those with blood cancer.

"There are a lot of cancer’s that are not treatable so I wanted to do something to raise funds for research into them.”

And now he is doing what he can for Strathcarron Hospice.

Visit John’s page on Strathcarron Hospice website for more information.