My Motivation
When I last saw Blue , a friends son who has battled mobility all his life, he had recently undergone six weeks of operations and procedures, physio and hydrotherapy. Blue is such a trooper, he has Cerebal Palsy which has affected his legs. As he has grown up his mobility has reduced as his body weight increased. Recently he has had six weeks at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital , during which he had many operations, procedures and therapy. One of the procedures was that Blues legs have been repeatedly broken and his ligaments etc operated on, to slowly straighten his legs and prepare his feet to take his body weight. You will never see Blue complain. He can now stand erect for the first time since I have known him. Since he left hospital he has worked tirelessly on his exercises and his physiotherapy and when I last saw him, he was able to walk with the aid of sticks along flat surfaces. Unbelievable! The pain was easy to see in his face as he tackled a simple step up to a door, but he never gives up, and is always quick with his smile. This was a very humbling moment for me and it made me re-assess my thoughts and feelings about my back, my pain and my mobility.
Blue after skydive
I had talked about paddling down the Thames in a Canoe before my back injury, so it seemed a natural target for me to aim at when I thought of walking the Thames Path. I had intended to get fitter and prepare to walk the Thames this summer but as usual it has flown by. So I suddenly realised I needed to act now or have to leave it until next summer. But next Summer I had planned to Canoe down the Thames and that would be impacted if I missed this opportunity of walking the Thames Path this Summer. So here I am, not fitter really, the training I was doing on my Cross trainer fizzlled out, and setting out on a 184 Mile walk and hoping to raise some money for The Royal Orthopaedic Institute. The Orthopaedic Institute, which was founded in 1971, is a registered charity and funds teaching and research related to musculoskeletal disorders at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at Oswestry. I hope you can support me by contributing towards The Orthopaedic Institute and commenting on this blog.
Blue Standing Upright For The First Time