On 6th September we will walk to all 4 professional football grounds in West London, Griffin Park (Brentford), Craven Cottage (Fulham), Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) and Loftus Road (QPR). The finishing point will be Wembley Stadium. The total distance covered will be approximately 15 miles. In truth I’m starting to wish we had thought of the ice bucket challenge first!
The reason we are doing this is to raise money for PKD Charity UK, and to commemorate a friend of ours called Tom Scanlan, who passed away at the age of 26 last March, with PKD a contributing factor to his sudden and untimely death. Tom did not know he had PKD, and screening of family members in the aftermath of his passing has revealed that his young son carries the condition.
Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a genetic disease that affects about 70,000 adults and children in the UK, and 12 million worldwide. The role of PKD Charity UK is to provide support and information to those who have the illness and their families, and also to raise awareness and fund research into its causes. The hope is that one day treatments and a cure can be discovered.
The walk is the second fund raising effort by those who knew Tom. On 1st June some friends of his did the Colour Run in Wembley, raising close to £1200 with their efforts. Inspired by this, and aware I was far too unfit to do any running, a walk was organised over a longer distance. There will be 5 people doing the full walk, including some of those who did the run. Others will be joining us for sections of the route, and anyone reading this who wishes to join us on the day will be welcome, especially if you’re volunteering to carry water bottles!
Donations can be send to us through the following website – www.justgiving.com/WLU – any amounts will be gratefully accepted, and thanks to a generous commitment by the company I work for, they will match the total amount of money raised up to £1000. In effect, your donation will be doubled!
Text donations are also accepted by sending the code WLUW99 to 70070
Thanks for taking the time to read this, please donate. Further information on the charity and the work they do can be found on their website – http://pkdcharity.org.uk/, they are also on Twitter @PKDCharity
Martin Wickham @Martin_Wickham
