What's up doc?
Best-known as a presenter on hit TV show Embarrassing Bodies, Dr Pixie McKenna made her name dealing with all kinds of cringe-worthy complaints – from rampant verrucas to raging halitosis. And now the Cambridge doctor has risen to another challenge: cycling 300 miles, from London to Paris…
Interview by Alice Ryan
Pictures by David Johnson
Sitting outside a Cambridge café, taking advantage of the late-afternoon sun, Dr Pixie McKenna is enjoying a rare moment of relaxation.
Best-known for presenting Channel 4’s hit show Embarrassing Bodies, Pixie lives in Cambridge. She works as a GP in both London and Cork and her television job (which includes lots of early mornings, late nights and working weekends) takes her all over the UK. She is, without doubt, a very busy lady.
“When I’m not working I try to sleep,” admits the 38-year-old, with a laugh. “Or I shop. I love shopping. In fact, I love, love, love, love shopping. But, lately, most of my spare time has been spent on a bike...”
Despite her already hectic schedule, Pixie has just completed a sponsored cycle ride: spanning some 300 miles, it took her all the way to Paris – and required a full four months of training.
“When I agreed to do it, I thought it would be a 10k, half a day at most,” she says. “But it turned out to be a bit more than that.”
In fact, Pixie and her fellow members of Team GP, including her Embarrassing Bodies co-star Dr Dawn Harper, were in the saddle for five long days. They ended their journey at the Eiffel Tower, just hours before the finale of the Tour de France.
“I was cycling along the Champs Elysees going ‘Oh my God! There’s Louis Vuitton’,” giggles Pixie. “The atmosphere was amazing. The only slight problem, throughout the whole thing, was that I’d never taken my bike up a hill before – Cambridge is very, very un-hilly – so that was a bit of a shock.”
In total, the GPs hope to raise in excess of £12,000 for the Touching Tiny Lives Appeal, run by the charity Action
Medical Research.
“Touching Tiny Lives funds research into premature births,” explains Pixie. “Two of Dawn’s three children were born prematurely; in fact, one in 10 babies in the UK are premature. Dawn wanted to do something to raise both funds and awareness – so that’s what got us started.”
Touching Tiny Lives funds research into premature birth. The campaign’s aim is to ensure that all premature babies get the best possible start in life; to date, it has raised almost £4 million. For more information visit www.action.org.uk
To help Pixie and the rest of Team GP reach their £12,000 fundraising target visit www.action.org.uk/sponsor/pixiemckenna
Full story in Cambridge Style - September 2009.
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