Dan's Crohnies

 

Back in 2019, my brother-in-law asked if I would be interested in undertaking 2020's South West Coast-to-Coast Ultra Challenge.  I had seen both he and my sister go through a number of these challenges and so, with all the naivety of the inexperienced - and despite several of my sister's toenails dropping of - I optimistically thought, "Why, not?!"

Roll on 2020 and, as we all know, the world ungracefully fell apart.  As a result, the challenge was cancelled and the team my brother-in-law started, Chafed in Places, was disbanded.  Fortunately, we could move our registration to 2021, which I duly did and started to think about training.  Occasionally.

Now, with four long-distance training walks under my belt, I am just a fortnight away from destroying my feet in a 102km trek across a beautiful part of the UK.  

Starting at Minehead in Somerset on Saturday, 24 July, I will be walking pretty much non-stop to Dawlish in Devon, really only pausing for poo breaks and food.  I would like to complete in under 24 hours, but it is fair to say that I am really not prepared for this.  My last training walk amounted to half the distance and I came close to dropping on a train, exhausted.

However, I kept going because there is a reason I am doing this.  I cannot take on a challenge like this just for the fun of it, I feel the need to do it for a purpose and, once again, family has given me that purpose. 

Soon after my nephew's 16th birthday this year, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, for which there is currently no cure.  Having known another Crohn's sufferer through the years and being aware of how huge an impact it is having on her life, I am obviously not keen to see my nephew go through the same experiences.  Therefore, I am doing this particular challenge to raise money for Crohn's and Colitis UK, in the hopes that it can edge researchers closer to finding a cure.

As always. I have set up a JustGiving page which I hope you will visit and make a small donation to: I have already got the ball rolling with £25, but I am keen to raise £1000, if at all possible.  If you cannot afford to donate or this is not a charity you want to support, I completely understand.  All I would ask is if you could share the page through your social media accounts, it would really help to spread the word about this life-changing disease.

Thank you very much!!!