As you know it is looking increasingly likely that I have beaten my terminal brain tumour which, along with the treatment and each and every one of the more severe epileptic seizures has left me brain damaged. As I have been fighting to get cognitively fit enough for work again, and while suffering from many setbacks, I find that fundraising for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) gives me a sense of purpose.
In light of the recent Disasters Emergency Appeal for the victims of the Indonesian Tsunami, on Wed 15th October I start a 62.75 mile walk along the Forth & Clyde & Union Canals, from Bowling in Glasgow to Lochrin Basin in Edinburgh, as a sponsored walk in order to raise funds for the Disasters Emergency Committee.
I intend to complete this walk in 3 consecutive days.
Day 1 (Wed) Bowling to Stockingford Junction 9.75 miles followed immediately by Stockingford Junction to Kilsyth for an overnight stop. 12 miles
Total Day 1: 21.75 miles walked
Day 2 (Thu) Kilsyth to Falkirk 11.25 miles followed immediately by Falkirk to Linlithgow for an overnight stop. 9 miles
Total Day 2: 20.25 miles walked
Day 3 (Fri) Linlithgow to Ratho 13.25 miles followed immediately by Ratho to Lochrin Basin 8 miles
Total Day 3 21.25 miles walked.
Total walked over the 3 days being 62.75 miles.
This will be a significant challenge for me in my condition with diagnosed Neurological Dysfunction and SMART syndrome. Both conditions are made much worse by tiredness. So while 20 miles is a long way to walk for anyone, most could do it. But to sustain that level of activity over 3 consecutive days for me will undoubtedly be a significant challenge, which will undoubtedly see a fair number of Twobbles (bouts of twitching, wobbling and bobbling), slurred and maybe even unintelligible speech leading to concerted attempts to speak with nothing coming out, dizziness and, hopefully not as worst case, but quite possibly functional limb weakness which can lead to random and unexpected collapses and drop attacks.
This will be a real challenge to sustain but one that I am delighted to accept if it will raise a significant amount of money for those thousands of people far worse off than I who desperately need our help. I desperately need your help so if you can please: 1. Share this post with your friends, family and work colleagues. As many people as you can and encourage them to sponsor me for this walk on my just giving page.