Family to take on 50km bike ride in memory of son who died from meningitis

Kate French will ride the Trans Pennine Trail on Monday, 27 July with her sons Jake, 12, and Josh, 13, in memory of her “beautiful” first son Declan, who would have turned 16 on the same day. The family are also taking on the challenge to raise money for Meningitis Now, a charity working towards a future where no one in the UK dies from meningitis.

They originally set themselves a target of £500 but that was surpassed in just a few hours, Kate said. Now they hope to raise more than £1000.

Kate, from Killamarsh, said: “I just had this light bulb moment on Monday because normally we do something on Declan’s birthday every year. This year we decided to have a go at raising some money.

"The fundraiser has gone crazy over the last couple of days. I’m really pleased with it so far."

The teacher joked that her boys “looked at her like she had grown two heads” when she told them they would be cycling the equivalent of more than 30 miles. But she managed to sweeten the deal with the promise of pizza afterwards.

"They have seen the sponsorship money going up and have really got into it,” she said.

"I have never ridden a bike that far in my life. We did about 16 miles one day and got completely lost and went about three miles in the wrong direction.”

The family have previously marked Declan’s birthday with activities like quad biking and camping.

"He was the happiest, smiliest baby you have ever seen in your life,” Kate said.

"He just came down with a virus and was in intensive care for about four days. I don’t even remember most of the four days. I didn’t even leave the hospital for that time.”

She added: “We ended up having to turn the life support machine off because his brain had completely died because of meningitis, this horrible, horrible illness.”

You can support the French-Molloy family’s fundraiser here.