Medical lecturer organises 14-hour walk for charities close to his heart

On July 23rd, Dr Gareth Nye, lecturer at Chester Medical School, and his family will trek 40 miles from Newton-le-Willows to Blackpool central pier in a single day to raise money for Diabetes UK and Child Bereavement UK.

Dr Nye explained: “As a family, we have tried to regularly raise money for charity. It is the least we can do to give back to those who have helped us over the past few years. And this time we wanted to really challenge ourselves.”

Dr Nye and his family have raised close to £1,000 for charities over the past six years through a variety of events and fundraisers, including raising money for Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals and various diabetes charities, after their daughter Gracie (now aged five) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2018.

His family are big supporters of Diabetes UK and are vocal when it comes to raising awareness about the condition, particularly with Gracie’s difficulty gaining valuable Diabetes technology.

What is less well known is the family’s relationship with child bereavement.

“Unfortunately, in 2019 my stepdaughter Megan lost her dad suddenly in a road traffic accident whilst travelling home from his work,” he explained.

“Despite having spent the past three years having both her close and extended family as a support network, it has still been difficult coping with bereavement like this.”

The family is regularly updating a Power to the Tower blog where you can find more information about their chosen charities and details of the event itself. There are also regular updates via social media.

Dr Nye added: “We are going to be leaving the house at 6am and aim to reach Blackpool by 8pm all going well. Using local roads, we should go through Wigan and Preston on our way up with support waiting to keep our morale up!

“It would be great to see people along the way cheering us on, you can even join in if you feel the urge”

If you would like to support Dr Nye and his family, there is an open Just Giving page that can be accessed here: https://www.justgiving.com/team/powertothetower