Charity Loaded March: Alder Hey Hospital

Charity

45 Mile Loaded march in aid of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

Scribe: LCpl Kenyon The 1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment REME LAD conducted a 45-mile loaded march on 14th December 2021, in aid of raising funds for Alder Hey Children’s Without donations, many of these outstanding facilities to help patients and families simply could not be provided. In support of the children’s charity we conducted a 45-mile Hospital. loaded march carrying 20kg, starting at Dale Barracks in Chester

This money will help to fund life-saving equipment, vital making our way to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool via research and healthcare innovation for children with critical and Runcorn. We then made our way to the Mersey tunnel traveling terminal illnesses. through Birkenhead and Wirral; marching through to the final leg of the journey back to Dale Barracks in Chester.

Left to right: LCpl Kenyon, Sgt Thompson, Sgt Smithers, LCpl Booth, Cpl Garbett, WO2 (AQMS) Cooke

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is a cause that I know is greatly respected throughout the community in the North-West for its commitment to our children’s wellbeing given over the years and it continues to do so. We all knew that this would be a difficult challenge, but the cause seems so worthy.

This 15-hour event was completed by a 6-person team with a mobile administration / safety team on call. Through controlled social media outputs and personal advertising, the team set to raise as much money as possible to fund life-saving equipment; a total sum of £2,189 was raised.

Planned 45-mile route, from Chester to Runcorn (A), Liverpool (C) and back to Chester (F) Feet taped up

We started the march enthusiastically but ran into problems with our feet by the 18mile point, where many of us had begun to encounter blisters. We stopped for five minutes to tape and powder our feet before continuing for another 11.4 miles to Alder Hey hospital where we were met by members of charity team who wanted to meet up with us.

Whilst at the hospital we were met by members of the admin party where we took 30 minutes to take on food and replenish any water used in the first leg of the journey and to re-tape our feet ready for the last leg of 25.5 miles.

From the Hospital we made our way to the Mersey tunnel and into Birkenhead on to what seemed the longest road I have ever encountered; it was literally one road back to camp traveling through the Wirral.

By the 15 miles to go point it is safe to say that we had all started to hit both mental and physical walls. I see myself as quite a fit person but at this point, I was questioning myself, I was running on mental resilience. My hamstrings had seized to the point where my legs had stopped bending at the knee, I was literally throwing one leg in front of the other, often falling to the ground in pain. We all experienced our own individual physical or mental blocks, but we pulled each other through it.

On completion of the march we came to the agreement that it was possibly the most physically challenging thing that any of us have ever done.

Chief Executive Fiona Ashcroft said:

“On behalf of all our young patients, their families and staff here at Alder Hey, I would like to thank you for your very generous donation of £2,189, Please convey our sincere thanks to everyone who sponsored your gruelling challenge from Dale Barracks to Alder Hey and back fully loaded and helped to raise this fantastic amount of money – well done! We really appreciate your help and support. I can only imagine you all slept well that night!

Your gift is helping us to provide the most child-friendly surroundings, state of the art equipment, and to use the most innovative technology available. Research carried out at Alder Hey is helping to ensure brighter futures for young patients here and around the world. You are also bringing the extra ‘magic’ above and beyond what is available through our wonderful NHS, from music and arts to high tech distraction.

One of our parents, John, told us “Without the support of all the staff at Alder Hey we don’t think we would have had such a positive outlook for our son Lewis’s journey. Everyone from the play staff and Cleaners to Surgeons, Nurses and theatre teams make us feel special, cared for and supported.

Lewis has changed our lives but Alder Hey has changed Lewis’s life. We have a saying that ‘we wouldn’t change Lewis for the world but would change the world for Lewis’ which is true, however we wouldn’t change anything about Alder Hey!”

Reaching Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

LCpl Kenyon stretching off

Meeting with the staff at Alder Hey