James Egan, the chief commercial officer at ABN Amro Clearing, and a group of friends are planning to ride 1600km through Europe in just nine days to fund a programme to research a rare auto immune disease called Linear Scleroderma.

Egan and his friends will begin the ‘Ride for Beth’, named after James’ daughter who has the disease, on June 23 in London and plan to ride through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland before arriving in  Venice on July 1.

The group plans to raise at least £150,000 (but ideally a lot more) to set-up a programme at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital to work to better understand the condition and its prevention, and to ultimately find a cure for Scleroderma.

‘Ride for Beth’ is the sole source of finance for this programme which Egan said has as its goal “to prevent other families going through our experience”.

Linear Scleroderma is a rare condition caused by the body’s immune system attacking the tissue under the skin and around internal organs and blood vessels.

Beth, who is ten years old, was diagnosed with Linear Scleroderma in 2015 and has for the past 17 months been undergoing various treatments for a localised form of the disease.

To read more about Beth, Linear Scleroderma and to donate to ‘Ride for Beth’, please visit James’ webpage at: www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/teambeth