Going the extra mile

Thank you to everyone who took part in My WALK IT 2021. The event was a resounding success!

Throughout June, almost 2000 participants walked either 5km or 10km in their local area, proudly wearing their My WALK IT T-shirts. Some participants even took on our newly introduced challenges of a half-marathon or a marathon. We’re now busy sending out all the well-deserved medals to our walkers. So far, £336,064 has been raised and this amount is continuing to rise. Every donation helps us make a real difference to the lives of people with Crohn’s and Colitis.

On-call firefighter and Crohn’s & Colitis UK member Ian Orledge, from Malton in North Yorkshire, raised £1,577 after taking on the extra challenge of walking in his full firefighting kit. Ian, who was diagnosed with Crohn’s early last year, decided to take part in My WALK IT after seeing an article in Connect magazine. He says, “I thought: 10km isn’t very far and I can do that quite easily as I’m fairly fit, so I thought I’d put a twist on it. Altogether, with the breathing apparatus and the firefighting protection equipment, I was carrying 22kg. I trained on a treadmill with all the gear on for five weeks leading up to it.

“It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park but it did make it easier as I was sort of prepared. I couldn’t have had a better day for it. The temperature was perfect and the sun was behind the clouds for the whole walk. I had a friend meet me every kilometre with some water and I managed to do it in two hours, when I was expecting it to take three. I was breathing through the mask until I ran out of air at 3km, so I just carried on with the cylinder on my back.”

Walking in his kit definitely captured people’s attention and helped Ian raise more money. He beat his original target of £150 in 24 hours and later received one £250 donation from a retired firefighter. Another anonymous donation of a whopping £500 took it even higher.

What makes Ian’s effort even more impressive is that he’s still suffering some of the effects of the Long Covid he developed after contracting the virus in April last year, just two months after his Crohn’s diagnosis.

“I was quite poorly and it really affected my Crohn’s. I wasn’t able to go back to work until mid-July. I can still cough quite a bit after exertion and my sense of taste or smell isn’t back to normal, but that comes in quite handy in my primary employment,” he laughs. “I’m a drain technician with Yorkshire Water so I basically clear blockages in sewers.”

We’re already putting together plans for 2022’s Walk It events and will let members know details soon. Watch this space!