“The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.” And ‘Bristol2Beijing’ is a testament to just that. On the 27^th of March 2022, the American International University – Bangladesh (AIUB) hosted an interactive session on the AIUB campus premises, with Bristol2Beijing, a unique initiative by Luke Grenfell-Shaw, an inspiring 'canliver', who is living with cancer but hasn't forgotten how to live yet! Diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24, he decided that the disease would only be a chapter in his life, not the whole story. In an attempt to create awareness and raise funds to fight cancer, he shared his incredible journey of travelling 30,000 km across 30 countries from Bristol to Beijing on the 3 wheels of a tandem bicycle. Since before the pandemic, he has been out to show that even when one is living with cancer, they can still strive for a rich and fulfilled life. With nearly 300 students joining the session, he interacted with them on the dreams and aspirations we have, as well as the challenges and obstacles that we face along the way, he shared his own experiences from undergoing chemotherapy to embarking on an incredible endeavour to promote and empower the fight against cancer around the world. Afterall, even the word cancer has ‘can’ in it.

As a part of the initiative, the AIUB Social Welfare Club – Shomoy, facilitated by the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), will be organizing be a fund-raising campaign run in the coming week for World Child Cancer in Bangladesh, encouraging students and staff to participate in the program as well. So with the belief of letting one’s faith be bigger than one’s fear, Bristol2Beijing is working towards supporting 5 proactive cancer-related charities and furthering the global efforts in enabling cancer victims and survivors to live life to the fullest.