Andy Walk's the Walk and Talk's the Talk too!

Andy has supported Walk the Walk through the years and anyone that has met him know what a marvellous man he is!

First of all, we wanted to share what he has recently been up to and as we got chatting we thought, you know what, I bet many people would love to read all about his Walk the Walk journey... so here goes!

Andy's recent challenge was a virtual walk from Winchester to Edinburgh... 714km, which is exactly 17 marathons. Of course, what better way to finish the challenge than to do four Nijmegen virtual marathons... WOW!

As he was updating his Facebook to try to raise more money for Walk the Walk, he noticed that his brother-in-law Michael and sister-in-law Roisin had sponsored him a whopping £714! Andy said:

"I was blown away by this as he had joked he would sponsor me if I did it backwards, hopping on one leg with a grin on my face. As he's from Yorkshire I thought no more about it until I saw the donation.He is a Consultant and his wife is a Matron on an ICU ward and they had to cancel a big holiday, so decided to sponsor me. How lovely!"

As Andy was telling us all about it, he then mentioned that his other brother-in-law, Chris, also sponsored him an amazing £500 and his sister-in-law, Catherine, a GP, gave £200 and sponsors him for most of his events ... he is totally blown away by his families continued support.

Andy's Walk the Walk Journey...

Andy sadly lost his beautiful wife and soul mate Mary to breast cancer in 2012 and had taken to walking from that point onwards, deciding to channel this energy into a positive experience. Catherine had done the MoonWalk London the previous year where Andy and his wife Mary followed her progress by various texts throughout the night.

He decided to join The MoonWalk London in 2013 and walked with his brothers-in-law Chris and Michael and sisters-in-law Catherine and Roisin. He was back again in 2014 with Chris, walking strong in memory of Mary.

"I bit the bullet and signed up to do the Moonwalk London the following year. I can’t tell you how pleased I am now that I did. It was a wonderful experience to be with so many people all with their own stories and reasons to be there, channelling all that energy and emotion into such a positive event. Raising money, making friends, healing wounds and getting fit to boot! I was hooked..."

Fast forward to 2016 and Andy did his first solo MoonWalk... not that you are ever on your own at a MoonWalk which Andy soon found out...  this is where he really felt that his passion for Walk the Walk had begun. Really feeling the true camaraderie of Walk the Walk and making friends which escalated and grew in 2017, he took on the Three Land Challenge... a MoonWalk in London, Scotland and Iceland in just 5 weeks... friends were made for life!

"For the first time in the 5 years since I lost my lovely wife, Mary, I felt a sense of peace and joy being in such amazing company. From all the WTW crew who are the best in every way, extremely helpful and determined to make sure you make the most of this incredible adventure, through to all the remarkable people I shared this challenge with. This is the wonderful healing power of WTW."

The MoonWalk Iceland called Andy back in 2018 and 2019, as well as many other challenges for WTW, i.e. the Thames Path, Dublin and the Arctic Challenge... twice!

"What makes supporting and walking for Walk the Walk so special, is that everyone has a reason for walking. It gives us something to focus on, helps friends and family to be able to support us and the WTW team really care and support us all the way. You can go into a room of 20 people at a WTW challenge and know everyone is going to be a special like-minded person, with their own reason for walking and they will become friends for life... it's a real circle of life!"

Andy, we salute you... and know you have kept on walking the walk and raising money since this blog was written! Thank you for all your support in fundraising and spreading the word... uniting against breast cancer with us and we look forward to Walking the Walk with you and others very soon.