posted on november 6th 2018
an annual sponsored walk to help find a cure for ph has raised over £1,200 in its second year.
the walk, in memory of john locke who lost his life after living with pulmonary hypertension for 15 years, is organised in his memory by his wife sue, along with family and friends.
“john was my rock, my world, my friend and my husband of over 35 years. he was diagnosed in 2002 at papworth, and sadly lost his battle on 22 september 2017 aged 61,” sue said.
john lived with sue in the cambridgeshire fens, where they would often go out for walks on the flat ground on john’s good days. this meant that when thinking of how they could raise money in john’s memory, a walk seemed an obvious choice.
“we needed something positive for us to focus on and to enable us to give back to pha uk in the hope of finding a cure for this terrible disease,” sue said. “last year’s walk was so successful that people asked if we could make it an annual event, which is what we are now doing.”
the second annual ‘letter b to b charity memorial walk’ took place on 22 september, on the anniversary of john’s passing. a group of over 40 of john’s friends and family left the letter b public house in whittlesey, near peterborough at 8am. they completed a ten-mile circular route back to the pub, where landlords bruce and denise roan provided a free lunch for the walkers. some of the group then set off again for another ten-mile walk in the afternoon, before returning for more food offered on the house.
“we asked for a £10 donation to walk which generated a lot of money as people gave £10 even if they weren’t walking,” sue said. “we followed this up with a fantastic raffle, and overall we raised £1250, which is fantastic.”
sue has been overwhelmed by the support she has received since losing john a year ago.
she added: “i can’t thank people enough, for all the love, care and support that we as a family have received over the last difficult year, especially my dear friends karen and russ who have helped us fundraise for pha uk for many years. i also want to thank bruce and denise for being such amazing people, who i feel are now good friends.”
