Walk4ECMO Summer Challenges 2023
Personal walking challenges
I am excited to reveal that in May I will be spending four days hiking the 84 miles of Hadrian's Wall from Wallsend (east) to Bowness-on-Solway (west). I will be hoping for dry weather because I will be sleeping in a tent!
Please see a link to my Just Giving page.
YouTube channel @Walk4ECMO.
Walk4ECMO Summer Challenges 2022
Personal walking challenges
This year I have managed a few more outdoor walking MicroAdventures. I have done a few really enjoyable treks on ThamesPath and hikes in the Surrey Hills and also some hikes in Wales including my Offa's Dyke challenge at the end of May.
A really enjoyable highlight of the summer was participating in Cardiff and Vale Health Charity '5K Do It Your Way' event in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff.
On the down side, I was really disappointed that the 'HEINEKEN Race to the Castle' event was cancelled due to February storm damage along the route. I was really looking forward to this 100km walk through Northumbria and along the coast to Bamburgh Castle, frustratingly twice deferred due to COVID!
ThamesPath and Wey Navigation
Walking the ThamesPath from Hampton Court and then on the Wey Navigation to Send.
Cardiff Vale Health Charity: 5K Do It Your Way
Amazing views and incredible landscapes on my BlackMountains and OffasDyke trek. Absolutely loved the views on the approx 12mi stretch of the OffasDyke from HayBluff to Pandy! A tough and rewarding challenge.
Hiking up Gwaelod Y Garth, Cardiff
I had a fantastic afternoon walking a circular route up Gwaelod Y Garth, a hilly area on the outskirts of Cardiff.
Cardiff Vale Health Charity '5K Do It Your Way' : Sunday 31st July
Really enjoyed my walk in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff. It had been raining earlier on but the sun soon came out as the hooter sounded to start the event.
Walk4ECMO Summer Challenges 2021
Personal walking challenges
This was a year when the CORONAVIRUS lockdown restrictions began to ease across the UK. Like many I had been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic with limited access to outdoor spaces and was absolutely desperate to go further afield and do some serious walking challenges. Unfortunately it was just not possible to get anything organised and I was only able to manage one hike in Abergavenny to add to my regular short hikes in the Surrey Hills.
Walk4ECMO Summer Challenges 2020
Personal walking challenges
Unfortunately due to the CORONAVIRUS outbreak I had to cancel my walking challenges planned for 2020.
Instead I was able to get involved in a number of small lockdown challenges to raise funds and to support the Guy's and St Thomas' Coronavirus Appeal! Even more now than ever before, we are grateful for incredible work being carried out under such difficult conditions by the dedicated proffesionals working in the NHS accross the whole country.
Event One: Street Island #SocialDistancing 'alternative' Marathon (26/03/20)
We've all been made island castaways by #COVID19 but on the last on Sunday 26th March the resident community in our street organised a social distancing 'alternative Marathon' charity event to coincide with the postponed London Marathon.
Households stepped forward at their alloted time, as part of their daily exercise, to walk, run or stroll laps of our island, contributing to the overall lap counter. The equivalent distance to the 26.2 miles required to complete the Marathon was calculated to be 281 laps of our island.
More than ten households participated in the challenge, including a sausage dog and a boxer dog, and when the laps were totalled up it became clear that our street had completed 2 WHOLE MARATHONS!!! The grand total of 565 laps had been made around our island. Excellent effort all round!
Event Two: A mile a day #LapsOfTheGarden for 30 days (May 2020)
The fundraising team at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital @SuppotGSTT challenged us to complete 30 miles of activity within 30 days, any time from May right through to the summer, to support the amazing work of the staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
And so for 30 days in May 2020 I walked a mile a day doing #LapsOfTheGarden
Event Three: Ran 10K a day for 30(actually 31) days in July (July 2020)
In May I walked #LapsOfTheGarden to stay active and support 'The GSTTnhs and EvelinaLondon Coronavirus Appeal'. Still working from home in July, challenged myself to run #10KaDay for every day of the month (31 days) to keep active and to support the dedicated NHS. I knew I would find it tough, and boyit did not disappoint! #NotBuiltForRunning.
Wearing @CV_UHB @UHWCriticalCare colours for Day#30 to thank them for the incredible work they continue to do. #ForeverGrateful @Health_Charity
Delighted to complete my latest challenge running #10KaDay for 31 days in July!
Walk4ECMO Summer Challenge 2019
Personal walking challenges
Supporting the amazing life-saving ECMO Intenstive Care team at St Thomas’ Hospital in London..
In 2019 I set myself three Walk4ECMO personal challenges through which I could continue to promote the physical and mental health benefits of staying active through walking activities as well as to continue to support and publicise the amazing life-saving ECMO team at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Event One: Brighton to London 24hr Challenge (03/08/19)
I set out on my challenge from the end of Brighton pier at 11:30am on Saturday 3rd August. I essentially walked directly north for 57.5 miles and 21.5 hours until the next morning when I reached St Thomas' Hospital, London. The challenge ended in the peaceful hospital garden where I sat to rest my aching feet and enjoyed a nice cup of tea and a flapjack!
Route:
Event Two: Abergavenny Offa's Dyke Challenge (07/09/19)
In 2018 I had the pleasure of joining Len Richards the Chief Executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and his team for three days on his Offa's Dyke Challenge. My route on the first day took me from Abergavenny via Llanthony Priory and up the valley before joining Len's path on Offa's Dyke from Hay Bluff to Pandy. This was an incredible 30 mile trek which inspired the second of my 2019 challenges. I changed the route a little to take in the Vale of Ewyas Horseshoe in the Black Mountains at Hay Bluff and an additonal leg taking me from Pandy back to Abergavenny to complete the circular walk. The challenge was a dawn-to-dusk experience that began at 06:44am and finished 13hrs 40mins and 37.8 miles later in the light of my head-torch.
Route:
Event Three: Cardiff & Vale Health Charity 'Welsh Three Peaks' (22/09/19)
For my third challenge I joined a team from the Cardiff & Vale Health Charity for a 24 hour challenge to tackle the Welsh Three Peaks: Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan. For this event I was raising money for the Critical Care Unit at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff who cared for Tom when he was first admitted into hospital and had the incredible foresight to refer him for ECMO (link below). I had a great time on this challenge and really enjoyed being part of a superb team effort.
Route:
Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge for Cardiff & Vale Health Charity
'Roads to Recovery' 2018
182 mile walk from Cardiff to London
Raising money for ECMO at St Thomas' Hospital, London.
In September 2018 I walked 182 miles in 6 days from the UHW in Cardiff to St Thomas’ in London as a personal tribute and symbolic journey marking Tom’s ECMO ambulance progress from Cardiff to London, the first leg of his 'Roads to Recovery', and to raise funds and awareness for ECMO at St Thomas’. I was so proud of everybody involved in this challenge that helped us raise a staggering total of £28,628.50 (with Gift-Aid added).
This challenge was also a way of saying thank you to the incredible people working for the NHS that have contributed to save our son Tom's life. In particular I wanted to thank the ECMO doctors and nurses at St Thomas' Hospital and the staff of the Critical Care Unit at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff who cared for Tom when he was first admitted and had the incredible foresight to refer him for ECMO.
We are very grateful for the prayers, well wishes and general support people gave us when Tom became ill, expecially in those first few weeks when things were especially difficult. Many thanks also have to go to the incredible catering corp of friends and family that so kindly provided us with ready cooked meals in those first few weeks, so welcome after we returned late each night from sitting at his bedside. Finally, thanks for all those that were #BeStrongForTom.
Tom's Story 2017
ECMO gave him a second chance
In October 2017 Tom received ECMO advanced critical care at St Thomas' Hospital, London after becoming critically ill with pneumonia. The amazing care provided by the NHS has given him a second chance to live.
On the Sunday 22nd October 2017 our 18 year old son Tom Boyce became critically ill with pneumonia and was fighting for his life in the Critical Care Unit at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff. Tom was too ill for conventional care so the consultants reached out for the advanced critical care offered by the ECMO team from St Thomas’ Hospital in London. The ECMO retrieval team arrived in Cardiff just before midnight and were on the motorway heading back to Thomas’ Hospital by 4.00am with Tom connected to a life saving portable ECMO machine.
ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation. ECMO is a bit like putting a patient on an artificial lung or heart machine and can provide life support for people with complete heart and/or lung failure. The ECMO buys time for the patient whilst the doctors diagnose and treat the underlying problem.
Tom spent nearly two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit and a further two weeks on High Dependency wards before being discharged from St Thomas' Hospital, almost a month after becoming critically ill in Cardiff.
Tom has been incredibly fortunate to receive the advanced critical care that ECMO offers. He has received amazing care and support from numerous dedicated doctors and nurses throughout his time under the care of the NHS and they have all ultimately contributed to him being given a second chance to live.
We are all so grateful!
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