Your inner monologue and the ubiquitous voice of the Australian advertising and film industries, Samuel Johnson, yesterday finished the world’s longest unicycle ride in Federation Square, having travelled a phenomenal distance of 15,955 kilometres over 364 days and raising close to $1.5 million in aid of Love Your Sister, a breast cancer research and awareness initiative embarked upon by Johnson in support of his sister Connie, who has terminal breast cancer.
Love Your Sister began as a dare made in jest between the two siblings, born a year apart, and evolved into promise from Johnson to set a new Guinness World Record for the most distance travelled on a unicycle, raise $1 million and spread his sister’s message of early breast cancer detection and awareness. Connie, 35, is a mother of two children under seven who has fought cancer since the age of eleven, again at twenty-two, and now faces terminal breast cancer – tumours from which have spread to her lungs, liver, pelvis, spine and knee. She has been given a life expectancy of 6-12 months.
Johnson has well and truly exceeded the conditions of that initial dare, beating the world record by over a kilometre, raising well over a million dollars and garnering coverage of the issue on every conceivable channel, including an incredibly affecting appearance on SBS Insight’s panel titled ‘Knowing You’re Dying’, on which Connie said, “Not only are we trying to raise the money for breast cancer research but also to get the message out to women to be breast aware and to men that they can save a life by groping their wife.”
You can watch that here, and make a donation to Love Your Sister with the support of The Garvan Institute here.
In keeping with Johnson’s motto for the ride, “Don’t fall into the Boobi trap. Get yourselves checked.”
Photo: Patrick Riviere via Getty
