Domenico - London to Italy

PKD patient - Domenico Sprovier - takes on a challenge of lifetime this Summer by cycling from London to Calabria, Italy in support of PKD Charity and AIRP - Associazione Italiana Rene Policistico.

Domenico has been diagnosed with PKD and has been taking Tolvaptan, a drug that slows down the condition for a few years now. He wants to show the PKD community that having PKD shouldn’t stop you from daily freedom and fulfilling your dreams.

In his own words Domenico explains why he decided to get on his bike and take on this epic 2800km challenge:

“Just before lockdown 1.0, I got infected with COVID 19, leading me to a 1-month tough period with high temperature, coughing and all those awful symptoms!

Once recovered, I started reflecting on my life and that is when I decided to slow down a bit from the crazy pace of London and go back to Italy to enjoy the Summer. To give myself time to re-discover myself and face the beauty of people and nature I wanted to travel slow. A flight couldn’t give me that, that’s when I decided to travel by bike!

From an idea, it quickly became reality! Then I said how can I do this and be useful and make a difference!

That’s when my disease took a role in this. In various groups on social media about PKD and Tolvaptan, I see people writing that they are worried of losing their daily freedom from this and are scared to start Tolvaptan. So, I wanted to undertake this trip to show these people that you can still carry on a normal life and dare to do more. (Of course, not everyone can do it, depending on their condition)

Taking Tolvaptan, water is the main problem, in fact I will carry with me constantly 10 litres of it!

This disease is common, but not many people talk about, so I wanted to give my contribution by raising awareness and donations to support research and development for a cure”.

Domenico will be crossing France, Belgium, Netherworlds, Germany, Switzerland and finishing in Italy. If you would like to support and follow his journey, follow his social channels below for daily updates and video blogs.

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/DomenicoSprovieri88

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dom_sprovieri88/?igshid=1s58tg5oqbef3

JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/domenico-sprovieri88

Good luck Domenico, you’re a PKD Superstar!