Pensioner Trish Hanlon is now 114 miles into her coast to coast walk to support disabled children in Yorkshire – and she has already raised more than £1,100.
Trish, who is 68 this month (July) and lives in Catterick, lost the balance in her right ear two years ago, which sent her staggering. Since then she has had to retrain her brain to be able to walk in a straight line. So taking on the 192-mile walk, from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, over the spring and summer, is a huge challenge.
Her funding has already helped provide a manual wheelchair for five-year-old Noah Tilson, who lives in Green Hammerton near York.
Noah has Cerebral Palsy affecting all of his limbs and he likes to use his powered wheelchair whenever he can. However, for certain things – like trips to hospital and holidays – a manual wheelchair which is easy to collapse and transport is invaluable.
Noah’s parents applied to Newlife the Charity for Disabled Children for help to get a manual wheelchair – and Trish’s fundraising has now made this possible.
Noah’s mum Sasha Tilson said: “One of the ways Newlife helps provide specialist equipment for children like Noah is through its Newlifeable service. This offers fully refurbished pre-used equipment – and Noah has previously had a walking frame through Newlifeable. It doesn’t matter that the equipment isn’t brand new because it is in pristine condition – just like the manual wheelchair he has now been given. It has a brand new support cushion and safety harness and it is ideal to use when – and where – his powered chair just isn’t suitable or transportable.”
Trish will be embarking on the next stage of her walking challenge from Ennerdale Water to the Honister Pass on Saturday 15 July. She said: “I had been taking part in intercessions at church, praying for change in the world, when I realised you have to step up and make change happen yourself – you can’t just keep asking the world to do it. We have three lovely, healthy grandchildren so it seemed natural to want to do something to help other children who are less fortunate. Newlife was an obvious choice.”
Newlife is the UK’s largest charity provider of specialist equipment for children with disabilities and terminal illness and has helped more than 1,300 children across Yorkshire. It guarantees that every penny Trish raises will be directly spent on vital equipment for children in the county.
If you would like to support Trish, go to: justgiving.com/fundraising/Trish-Hanlon-C2C or www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/TrishC2C
To find out more about Newlife and how it supports families, go to: www.newlifecharity.co.uk/local. Click on your area of the County Map and read stories about how specialist equipment has transformed the lives of children near you.
Pictured: Noah Tilson
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