A BRAVE Rubery author and artist who has battled bowel cancer and has leukaemia will abseil down one of Birmingham’s tallest buildings at the age of 82 to raise funds for charity.
Michael Richardson will undertake the feat at the Hampton by Hilton in Broad Street next Sunday (September 6) to raise funds for Cancer Research.
Michael, who is well-known in Rubery, Bromsgrove and the surrounding area for his landscape paintings, underwent surgery for bowel cancer at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in June after being diagnosed in April.
Despite being hampered by his leukaemia, diabetes and other complications, the operation was a resounding succeess and he is currently having chemotherapy.
And, after declaring himself fit for almost anything, he has decided to take this plinge.
Michael said: “I felt so fit afterwards against all the odds that I wanted to do something a bit wild before I quit this Earth.
“I saw the poster in the QE for the abseil and thought as they’d done so much for me, I wanted to do something for them to give something back.”
As well as his paintings, Michael is also a prize-winning author – his novel The Pig Bin won the Society of Authors’ Sagittarius Prize for best debut novel by a senior author.
Careless Talk, its sequel, also gained critical exclaim. Both books are set in the local area and a painting Michael did of a corner of Bromsgrove which is now much-altered won the Artist magazine cover competition.
Standard readers are being urged to get behind Michael’s charity drop and sponsor him.
Visit https://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Richardson10/ to boost Michael’s coffers for Cancer Research.
He has set himself a target of raising £1,000 and has currently had £800 pledged.
