Four friends aim to cycle 1,600km to raise funds for NKF
Four friends are embarking on a gruelling 16-day, 1,600km cycling route across the United Kingdom come July, in a bid to raise funds for The National Kidney Foundation (NKF).
They hope that their initiative, Riding For Hope, can raise $257,000, signifying their combined age of 257 years old.
The quartet features team leader Tag Sin Siew, 60, a development manager, architect Michael Ngu, 62, former IT manager Tee Lay Kern, 61, and Mr Tag's brother-in-law, Mr Tan Ah Chwee, 74, who is retired.
Mr Ngu, whose legs were immobilised after a bout with polio during childhood, will be on a handcycle.
Riding For Hope was launched yesterday at the official opening of The Hour Glass-NKF Dialysis Centre in Admiralty. Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan, MP for Sembawang GRC, was the guest of honour.
It is the first of two dialysis centres sponsored by The Hour Glass, a luxury watch retail group that donated $2 million to NKF in 2015. The other centre is in West Coast. Both centres have 19 dialysis stations each.
For Mr Vincent Tan, 51, a therapist assistant who used to travel to Bukit Panjang for his dialysis sessions, the Admiralty centre is just a five-minute walk away. "This centre gives me peace of mind since I don't have to rush," he said yesterday.
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NKF, the biggest dialysis provider in Singapore serving some 4,300 patients, currently has 34 dialysis centres. Seven more are slated to be set up by 2020. This comes amid a growing number of people here with kidney failure. Five people are diagnosed with kidney failure in Singapore daily, up from four a day six years ago.
The NKF hopes to increase live organ transplant numbers, which have remained stagnant.
Mr Tim Oei, chief executive officer of NKF, said: "There are some concerns surrounding live kidney transplant. People worry about the effects of the medication and that they cannot work after the transplant.
"NKF is here to allay those concerns by offering support to donors' medical cost and any loss in income they might suffer.
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