Reena Patel, Christie fundraiser

Reena started fundraising for The Christie after her brother Amit was diagnosed with testicular cancer in mid-2022. At that time, Amit was only 29 years old and had got married just a few months before.

Amit’s diagnosis came as a huge shock to him, Reena and all the family. He was referred to The Christie for chemotherapy, as his tumour was in an unusual position for testicular cancer – between his kidney and his bladder. This reduced the size of the tumour but didn’t remove it completely.

In January 2023, Amit had surgery to remove the tumour. Reena says he’s still recovering from the operation but that the staff at The Christie were amazing throughout the whole of Amit’s treatment.

Reena wanted to thank The Christie on behalf of the whole family for Amit’s chemotherapy and surgery. As a keen gym-goer, she’d always loved spin classes, and decided to use this as a way to fundraise for The Christie charity.

Reena Patel

Reena spoke to Janet Hoyle, the group fitness manager at the Village gym in Ashton Moss. Janet helped Reena organise a charity ‘spinathon’. To promote the event, Reena and Janet asked the marketing team at the Village gym to create posters. She then got people she knew from the gym to sign up for the event.

The 2-hour charity spinathon took place on Saturday 4 February. Reena and her friends sold 24 bike spaces at the spinathon for £15 each and had 4 instructors lead a 30-minute spin class each.

Reena said the spinathon event was a lot of fun: a great way to raise money for The Christie and perfect for her friends who love spinning. She said the instructors did an amazing job to keep everyone motivated. Most of the participants started to flag after the first hour but Reena said they all managed to push through to the end.

“The Christie has been amazing throughout. The nurses and doctors couldn't do enough for Amit during his chemotherapy and surgery, and even now, and the work they do is invaluable. As a family, we cannot thank them enough. I have a big friend network at the Village which includes some of my favourite instructors. I mentioned my fundraising idea to the group fitness manager, and she loved it. She has also had family who have been cared for at The Christie.”
Reena, Christie fundraiser

Reena raised over £2,300 with her spinathon event, smashing her target of £1,500. We'd like to say a big well done to Reena - incredible fundraising like this helps us keep providing support to cancer patients and their families, over and above what the NHS funds.

Do you want to support The Christie charity? Our ideas generator has lots of inventive and interesting ways you can raise money for The Christie.

Or if you fancy taking on an organised event, check out our events calendar to see what events you can take part in for The Christie.

Any support you can give will help us keep touching patients' lives today, tomorrow and beyond.