FIley holidaymaker to walk 86 miles in memory of his beloved wife, to raise funds for Yorkshire Cancer Research

Chris Hewitt has organised and is taking part in the walk in memory of his beloved wife Gill, who passed away from cancer.

Joined by colleagues from the hospital, the walk will take place over a period of five days, starting at St James’s hospital on April 29 and finishing in Filey on May 3 - the date of the 16th anniversary of his wife’s death.

The route for the walk has been carefully chosen with help from Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Council and of course Chris himself.

Chris’ wife Gill was actually treated at St James’s hospital and as Chris is also a member of staff there it is an appropriate place to start the walk. The finish line is in Filey where Chris spends a lot of his time at his caravan.

The community in Filey are also getting as many people involved as possible, and have arranged free fish and chips for everyone who takes part in the walk, as well as a buffet on the evening of arrival in a local pub that Chris visits often.

Chris was inspired by his daughter who took part in the ‘Great North Run’ to raise money and awareness for Yorkshire Cancer Research and is now hoping to achieve the same. All donations and sponsorships are greatly welcomed and appreciated by Chris himself and the charity.

Chris said: “I was going to do this myself and mentioned it to a couple of doctors at work who offered to walk with me, I then mentioned it to my management team at one of our huddles, their offers of help and support in organising it with me have left me so pleased and indeed very humbled.

"If anyone wants to walk any of the way with me I would be so grateful to you and would be pleased for any money donations to help find a cure for this terrible disease that doesn’t discriminate and touches everybody’s lives.”

Chris has so far raised around £500 but is hoping to raise £2000, if not more.

He is hoping to get as many people involved as possible and all money raised will go towards helping more people in Yorkshire avoid, survive and cope with cancer by raising awareness of cancer and how to prevent it.

It will also help towards promoting screening programmes and funding innovative research, from diagnosis to end of life care. Chris also has a very personal connection with Yorkshire Cancer research so this was the perfect charity for him to dedicate the walk to.

To sponsor Chris visit: https://yorkshirecancer.everydayhero.com/uk/walk-for-gill

For more information on taking part in any stage of the sponsored walk, get in touch with Chris by emailing him at: [email protected]