A father of one has completed a gruelling 177-mile walk to raise vital funds for a children’s charity.
Chris Butler walked the length of Offa’s Dyke over six days last week – a huge 280,000 steps.
In the process he has raised over £6,000 for the DIPG children’s brain cancer charity Abbie’s Army which funds medical research to give hope to families.
Chris, 35, who lives in Herefordshire and is the Marketing Manager for Knighton based soft drinks company Radnor Hills, said: “It was an incredible journey, and I’m delighted to have smashed my fundraising target.
“I’d like to thank everyone who donated and supported me, including my best mate Michael Cresswell who took time out to tackle a huge chunk of the walk.
“Special thanks also go to my dad, Paul, who followed me all the way down the trail keeping me topped up with supplies and kept me going in the heatwave, and to my wife Holly and our son, Arthur, who inspired me to take on this challenge and who have kept my head in the game throughout.
“Abbie’s Army is a remarkable charity dedicated to funding vital research into this devastating disease and offering support to families facing this life-altering challenge.”
“As the dad of a three-year-old, I can’t even begin to imagine what families living with DIPG are going through and I just knew I had to do something to help. This experience is something I will never forget.”
Abbie Mifsud was just six years old when she died of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an inoperable and incurable cancer in her brainstem.
DIPG is an extremely aggressive cancer which currently has no effective treatment options and almost exclusively affects young children under the age of eleven. Abbie died in 2011 just five months after her diagnosis.
