‘I am the first Irish person with Progressive MS to take part’ – Conor’s Cykelnerven

My name is Conor Carey, I am 46 years young today. I am married with 2 adorable kids, Aimee Rose 7 and Michael 4.

I live in a small village in Inishowen, Co Donegal, Ireland. I was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis when my little boy was 6 months old, which came as a complete shock to me and my family. It took a while for it to sink in.

I choose to take the advice of my Neurologist – Use it, Or Lose It – and decided to dramatically change my whole outlook on life going forward from diagnosis.

On June 16th, I took part in the toughest (both mentally and physically) yet most rewarding challenge of my life – Cykelnerven. I am the first Irish person with Progressive MS to take part in this event. I took part & completed this event based on 355km of the Toughest mountain climbs of this years Tour de France and in doing that our team alone raised USD21000 for MS research!

Each day was planned out and organised perfectly for us, from feeding hundreds of hungry men & women each morning, transfers when needed, food supplies for each stage of the cycle, lunch each day during cycle and support vehicles constantly close by with supporting you each revolution of the crank. Fantastic accommodation upon arrival at the end of each day, transfers if needed, rounded off by a fantastic arrangement of food for each evening meal.

Then there was the scenery… picture-postcard STUNNING. It was worth the effort alone. Every time you were getting it tough all you had to do was wipe the sweat away and have a look around you. Sometimes it was so spectacular that your only option was to hop off the bike and take some photos.

Then there was the comradery between your cycling buddies, top class, nicer group of cyclists you could not have hoped for.

The entire event from start to finish was an amazing & enjoyable experience. One that I will never forget.

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