Dr Lorraine Wheeldon has been training for Save the Children’s Mother’s Day Cycle and will travel to Laos in May to complete the 13-day adventure. Picture: KYLIE ESLER
INSTEAD of having breakfast in bed this Mother’s Day, Wodonga doctor Lorraine Wheeldon is heading to Laos on a two-week charity cycling adventure.
The GP needs to raise almost $3700 before flying to the Asian country to participate in the bike ride, which will bankroll a new village health clinic.
Money raised from the event, staged by Save the Children, will also help train volunteers for health projects.
Dr Wheeldon said her interest in the inaugural Mother’s Day Cycle was sparked by her medical background.
“I thought about it and I thought, ‘what a good idea ... what a good people to be assisting’,” Dr Wheeldon said.
In Laos, Dr Wheeldon will visit an existing health clinic and experience the impact of the fund-raising.
The invitation came through Dr Wheeldon’s cycling club, Albury-Wodonga Pedal Power.
While Dr Wheeldon faces different cases in Wodonga than a doctor in Laos would, she’s no stranger to the front-line in disadvantaged areas.
As part of her training, Dr Wheeldon completed her year-long internship at a Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, where she “probably got 10 years’ experience” in one.
Dr Wheeldon has been training hard.
She has been riding 40 kilometres, two to three days a week, and on each of the five cycling days she will ride between 50 and 100 kilometres.
After moving from Western Australia to Wodonga in early 2010, Dr Wheeldon got right into cycling.
“I’ve seen a lot of Albury-Wodonga through riding,” she said.
Donations can be made at give.everydayhero.com/au/lorraine-wheeldon