On April 1 to 8 my daughter Brodie and I will be riding in the Tour of New Zealand! The Tour is a 7 day stage race, covering 700 kms through the South Island from Queenstown to Wellington.

In 2015 I rode the Tour of New Zealand with Tearfund, which was an amazing experience and a great cause to ride for. This year I have changed focus and we will be riding with Team Ricoh and raising funds for The Unicorn Foundation. The Unicorn Foundation is raising funds to help Kiwis receive treatment for Neuroendocrine Cancers or NET Cancer for short. Net Cancers are tumours that can start anywhere in the body and affects anyone at any age. One Kiwi is diagnosed every day and NET Cancers are more common than Brain, Ovarian or Cervical Cancer. Thousands of New Zealanders are affected by NET Cancer. Currently the nearest treatment is in Melbourne Australia and costs $50,000. The Tour of New Zealand and the riders for the Unicorn Foundation are hoping to change that and bring the treatment here to New Zealand.

So why have I decided to ride for the Unicorn Foundation? Some of you may know that my wife Carmen has a brain tumour, which required radiation and chemo treatment 3 years ago. Just recently, we have been told Carmen will need to go into surgery and also have another round of radiation and chemo therapy. Although Carmen's is not a Neuroendocrine tumour, our racing for the Unicorn Foundation is my way of helping others who are battling this disease.

So why don't you help me by joining Team Tokios and help us raise our goal of over $5000 for this cause? Every dollar raised will go straight to The Unicorn Foundation as all of our riding costs have been covered by the generous support of Ricoh New Zealand.

For more information go to www.unicornfoundation.org.nz. You can also check out the tour at www.tourofnewzealand.co.nz, and have a peek at the video clips, you may recognize some of the riders!
I'd love to hear from you and hopefully you can help and be a part of this amazing cause. You can either email me at david.tokios@fire.org.nz or call me on 021 621 527. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
David Tokios