5000 mile sponsored walk for MS research

Email update from Andy Monk who is walking 5000 miles for MS research and is doing a wonderful job, we all owe people like him so much for his tireless efforts

Dear Councillor Baldock,

My apologies for the long pause but I have been caring for Gwen while MS has been treating her with utter contempt.

We managed to finish most of the Northern section of the walk before MS forced us to stop for a while. Thankfully Gwen is more or less back on her feet now and we will hopefully be heading for Cheshire in the next couple of weeks to continue the walk. We will finish off the Northern section of the walk later in the year.

We have walked through some beautiful parts of the country that we have never seen before, met some fabulous people, and made a lot of new friends along the way. The support we have received has been just excellent, it really has been an inspiration to us both and given us so much hope.

Apart from Gwen's MS having its own schedule things have gone swimmingly. One of the hardest parts of the walk so far was over the moors between Haworth and Hebden Bridge. Gwen was at home recovering and I had decided to catch up a bit on the walking. I met up with a group of supporters in Keighley who walked the mile with me towards Haworth.

What came next was a challenge to say the least. Once up on the tops it was driving rain and gale force winds. I had to lean sideways into the wind to be able to walk straight, and even then the force of the wind blew me onto the verge a few times; this was a battle against the elements, but faced with such extreme conditions all I needed to do was to remind myself of the reason I was there and it suddenly became so easy. Driving rain and gale force winds are no match for determination of the kind that is bred from seeing what MS can do to someone you love. Once the road started dropping down again towards Hebden Bridge the sun came out and there was the most awesome of views across a vast wooded vale adorned with a thousand shades of autumn colour.

In November we were lucky enough to walk through Hyde Park with little Luke, son of Lynda Carthy who runs the British Trust for The Myelin Project, one of the charities we are raising funds for; he's a beautiful little boy who has a Leukodystrophy, his smile lights up your day, you'd never forget it. Lynda's daughter Natasha walked with us too and raised £97 for TMP.

I have still to add up how much we have raised in sponsorship, but all donations are listed here www.aboutms.co.uk/donations.htm

Will keep in touch.


Kindest regards

Andy

Web: http://www.aboutms.co.uk