Brainless Golf

On 13thMarch 2008 Matt Latter at the age of 26, collapsed in a hairdressers subsequently having a major epileptic fit; a dramatic and harrowing event, not least for his flatmates who consequently missed an epic house party in Putney that evening, and a confused barber who remains unpaid. Within days Matt was shown MRI scans indicating a brain tumor sensitively described by the doctor as being “the size of a golf ball”. This was removed the next day in an “awake” operation during which the anesthetist was counseled by Matt on the correct approach to a defensive stroke when facing fast bowlers on sticky wickets.

Over the past couple of years Matt has undergone two more similar operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, one positive consequence of which being that the Royal Free Hospital Hampstead now fields a very strong 1st XI in NHS regional heats.

Having put a demanding law job in the City on hold, Matt embraced a temporary retirement pl... more

On 13thMarch 2008 Matt Latter at the age of 26, collapsed in a hairdressers subsequently having a major epileptic fit; a dramatic and harrowing event, not least for his flatmates who consequently missed an epic house party in Putney that evening, and a confused barber who remains unpaid.

Within days Matt was shown MRI scans indicating a brain tumor sensitively described by the doctor as being “the size of a golf ball”. This was removed the next day in an “awake” operation during which the anesthetist was counseled by Matt on the correct approach to a defensive stroke when facing fast bowlers on sticky wickets.

Over the past couple of years Matt has undergone two more similar operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, one positive consequence of which being that the Royal Free Hospital Hampstead now fields a very strong 1st XI in NHS regional heats.

Having put a demanding law job in the City on hold, Matt embraced a temporary retirement playing golf, mastering the sympathy card with the Lamberhurst Club Captain to hold onto a 16 handicap, giving a seriously unfair advantage over his regular playing partners.

Now along with five of these disgruntled golf enthusiasts - Aidan Elliott, Ben Cobain, Andy Beer, Alex Baxter and Daniel French, Matt is prepping to undertake 72 holes of golf in one day on Friday 13th July to raise money for the Cancer Research Seve Ballesteros Foundation directly linked with the treatment of brain tumors, and founded by the multiple Majors winner Seve Ballesteros.

For each of the above completing one hole can be challenging enough; the fairway being a Holy Grail occasionally glimpsed through the trees.

To put 72 holes into perspective for those that do not play golf, here are a few numbers to highlight the challenge which will take at best 16 hours. Between the six of us, we will burn approximately 36,000 calories which works out as about 50 lbs of steak or almost 380 bananas; whilst walking up and down hills covering about 150 miles.

Hence, we ask for donations of any amount to the Cancer Research Seve Ballesteros Foundation for them to be able to do further research regarding similar brain tumor conditions.

Thank you in advance
 

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