Dacorum cyclists wanted to join Super Scanner Cycle Challenge to help bring hi-tech equipment to hospital trust

The charity is calling on cyclists of all abilities to join the Super Scanner Cycle Challenge – which is aiming to raise £10,000 in May.

Challenge participants can choose how many miles to ride, where and when, and can set their own fundraising targets.

And they can join in on the road, static cycling, ‘spinning’ at the gym or even in the comfort of their own home.

Anytime Fitness in Hemel Hempstead, Croxley Park and Bushey are offering free spin classes for participants who want to ride ‘spin miles’ for the Super Scanner Cycle Challenge.

If you don’t have a bike of your own but want to get involved, Watford’s bike share operator Beryl is offering 10 places to ride for Team Beryl.

Raise - the charity that supports West Herts Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - has organised the cycle challenge as part of a series of fundraising events for the ‘Imagine This... ’ super scanner appeal.

The new Philips Azurion system will allow patients in west Hertfordshire and beyond to have cutting edge pinhole surgery provided locally by Interventional Radiologists in a fantastic new surgical suite being created.

This means that hundreds more patients will be treated nearer their homes and loved ones.

Dr Phil Haslam, President of the British Society of Interventional Radiology said: “Interventional Radiology or ‘Image guided surgery’ is integral to the care of patients from many specialties.

"Interventional radiologists are able to carry out numerous minimally invasive surgical procedures often under local anaesthetic and as day cases. We are involved in treating vascular disease, liver disease, lung disease, urinary tract disease and emergency treatment of bleeding either from trauma

or bleeding post surgery or child birth.

"A growing area of interventional radiology is interventional oncology where we can treat small tumours with targeted image guided therapies reducing the toxicity seen with whole body treatments and avoiding major surgery.”

He added: “The ‘Super Scanner’ system is ideally suited to helping the interventional radiology team at West Herts achieve the best outcomes for their patients. It is ultramodern, giving excellent imaging at low doses. With this system they will be able to provide a full range of interventional radiology procedures from the treatment of emergency trauma and bleeding to state-of-the-art cancer treatments.”

The £695,000 appeal has got off to a fantastic start and two-thirds of the total target have already been raised – including a £100,000 pledge from the hospitals’ League of Friends.

If you would like to make a donation or join in the cycle challenge to help buy the scanner that will save lives, visit Raise’s website or call 07435 802862.