Welcome to my blog about undertaking the Leukaemia Foundation’s Machu Picchu Challenge in 2016.
The purpose of the Machu Picchu Challenge is to raise vital funds for the Leukaemia Foundation and to help the thousands of aussies who are suffering from blood cancers.
Fact: Did you know that 34 Australians are diagnosed with blood cancer every day?
A bit of information about myself, my name is Craig Marchant and i’m the Chief Technical Officer for VentraIP Australia a local web hosting and domain name company based in Melbourne, Australia. I am 34 years old, married to a wonderful wife and have four amazing children who are my world.
I also happen to suffer from depression and schizophrenia. Have suffered from these since my late teens. Well controlled by medication, however that also presented it’s own set of challenges, namely weight gain. At my largest I was approaching the scales at 200kg’s. Decided a few years ago to have weight loss surgery and got the Gastric Band which unfortunately just wasn’t for me and had to come out late last year.In May/June of 2015 I had the Gastric Sleeve performed and as of October 2015 i’m now weighing in at 140kg’s and hoping to be at the magical 100kg marker by the time of the trip in May 2016.
The Bariatric Surgeon who performed all of my Weight Loss Surgeries (Mr. Liang Low) is part of Complete Weight Loss Solutions, who also happen to be sponsoring me on my Machu Picchu Challenge.
Update: February 2016 – Just an update for everyone, I’m now weighing in at less then 130kg’s which i’m very happy about.
In 2014 my mum Kathy made the decision to participate in Plan International’s Cycle for Girls adventure, raising funds to help educate and empower girls. She said the experience was unlike anything she has ever done before, and I couldn’t be more proud of her efforts. This has inspired me to undertake the Leukaemia Foundation’s Machu Picchu Challenge in 2016.
Why the Leukaemia Foundation? As i’m sure a lot of people out there can relate to, i’ve had a number of family members diagnosed with Cancer and seeing them battle the cancer with everything they have is a very humbling experience. I want to give something back to the community and this is my way of doing just that.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you are able to support me to support the Leukaemia Foundation then it would mean the world to me.
Cheers,
Craig