Father and son grin and bear it for charity
Patients don’t come more grateful than the Eiliazadeh family who have undertaken a succession of gruelling challenges to raise £50,000 for St Mark’s Hospital.
Brunel Eiliazadeh, 39, wanted to say thank you for the support the hospital continues to give his wife, Laura.
It marks a stark turnaround of the family’s opinion of the NHS after their poor experience at a previous hospital.
Brunel said: “St Mark’s has gone a long way towards restoring our faith in the NHS and we can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve given us”
To date, Brunel has completed in more than 25 triathlons, multiple competitive cycling events which led to qualification for the World Championships, several Iron Man events and three Megavalanches which is a 30km, 8,000 foot descent down the side of glacier by bike.
He was introduced to the pleasures of the Iron Man triathalon by St Mark’s consultant Simon Gabe.
The Iron Man is known as the most gruelling single day sporting event in the world. It comprises of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run; competitors must finish within 17 hours in order to gain the title of “Iron Man”.
Brunel describes crossing the finish line of his first Iron Man as the ‘best and worst day of my sporting life.’
His do-daring has now inspired his son Theo to get involved in fund raising and he recently completed his second sprint triathlon.
Brunel added: “It means the world to me to have my son on board. He has cerebral palsy due to being born 3 months premature but is proof that the only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
So, what’s left on the bucket list of torturous events for Brunel?
“Well, I’d like to do Marathon des Sables at some point, a six day ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert, but the wife might have something to say about that. If she does, I may suggest climbing Everest instead!”