Dave Heeley is fundraising for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Seven Magnificent Marathons

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Raising money for

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Charity Registration No. in England and Wales 209617 and Scotland SC038979

The ability to get around is vital in order to live a full life yet thousands of blind and partially-sighted people never leave home alone. We empower visually-impaired people to live their lives how they want to.

We breed and train guide dogs which provide life changing mobility and there are currently 4,500 working guide dog partnerships in the UK. Guide dog owners only have to pay a nominal 50p for their dog to ensure no-one is prevented from having one due to lack of funds but the full lifetime cost of a guide dog from birth to retirement is £49,800. We rely on the support of the public to fund our services.

We also provide other mobility services such as rehabilitation and white cane training as well as campaign passionately to break down barriers – both physical and legal – to enable blind and partially-sighted people to get around on their own.

Page owner

Dave Heeley

Page closes

04/01/2009

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Raised: 34%

Target: £100,000.00
Raised so far: £33,603.02

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My story

Guide Dogs' Seven Magnificent Marathons

I am a guide dog owner, known as ‘Blind Dave’ and after ten years of fundraising for Guide Dogs, yesterday (Sunday 13 April) I completed my greatest challenge yet! I have finished my ‘Seven Magnificent Marathons’ challenge – seven marathons, on seven continents, in seven days. This challenge is an effort to raise awareness of visual impairment around the globe, and to raise funds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

With my friend and sighted guide Malcolm Carr and our support team we started on 7 April 2008 in Mount Pleasant - Falkland Islands in Antarctica. This was followed by six subsequent gruelling legs in Rio De Janeiro (South America), Los Angeles (North America), Sydney (Australasia), Dubai (Asia), Tunis, Tunisia (Africa) and London (Europe) – arriving in spectacular style for the Flora London Marathon on Sunday 13 April.

Having an army of supporters at the Flora London Marathon made such an enormous difference to my exhausted body and mind, and helped me find that extra bit of strength from within to complete the final leg of the Seven Magnificent Marathons.

I will carry every single person that joined me for the last 26.2 miles of the challenge in my heart, as I succeeded in proving to the world that sight loss is no barrier to independence and human achievement.

Having experienced sight loss since birth, I know how terrifying life can seem. However, I have been fortunate enough to have had my life transformed by Guide Dogs. That is why I was determined to create awareness of visual impairment around the globe in an effort to improve services for blind and partially sighted people, while also raising money for Guide Dogs. By doing this, I am hoping to make a personal difference to the lives of blind and partially sighted people worldwide by bringing mobility issues to the forefront of people’s minds, and help fund the training of more guide dogs for blind or partially sighted people in the UK.

If you would like to know more about the event you can visit: www.7mm.org.uk.

Your support and donations for my challenge are very welcomed, Guide Dogs is totally self sufficient in their fundraising as the government or local authorities offer no financial support whatsoever, so any money you donate is gratefully excepted and will be of huge importance to the ongoing work of Guide Dogs.

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Guide Dogs will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 25% in tax will be added to your gift at no extra cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks,
Blind Dave

All donations are processed in GBP's (£) so if you're donating from outside the UK you may want to double check rate of exchange using a currency converter like this one: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

	Donation by Kate 04/05/08	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Dave, you and Mac are heroes forever in Sandwell Donation by Gary Bowman 04/05/08	£200.00 + £56.41 Gift Aid
	Just awesome-for a very worthy cause Donation by M & N 02/05/08	£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid
	well done Dave & Mack, proud of you both BOING BOING Donation by Keith & Karen Fairfax 02/05/08	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Brilliant performance - it took me 10 years to do my 7 marathons Donation by Barry 01/05/08	£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid
	Wonderful achievement Donation by Carolyn Williams 01/05/08	£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid
	Dave, fantastic effort! Donation by Robin Fearon 01/05/08	£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid
	Well done what a great achievement Donation by Janet Baggie 30/04/08	£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid
	We were amazed at what you both acheived and spread the word around! Very very well done. Donation by Phil & Kids 30/04/08	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Donation by paul 29/04/08	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Well done Dave - great ovation at the Hawthorns last night Donation by Slimbo 29/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	AMAZING, WE ARE INSPIRED BY YOU, WELL DONE BLIND DAVE & MALCOM Donation by Chris & Jenny King 28/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Well Done Dave.....You are an inspiration to all of us Donation by Preston Andrews 28/04/08	£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid
	Apologies, last donation was this short! Donation by Brian James Jackie Tracy Tree & Karen 28/04/08	£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid
	Brilliant achievement we enjoyed seeing you in Rio Donation by peter & annette williams 28/04/08	£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid
	An amazing achievement and inspiration to us all. Hopefully we will meet you at one of the midland races. Donation by Lawrence & Wendy 26/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	truly heart-lifting, the best news features for a long time Donation by weeny 26/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	An honour to run in the same race as you in London the other day. I couldn't have done 6 more though Donation by Charles Wollaston 25/04/08	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	well done all Donation by Marlene and Brian Collett 25/04/08	£7.00 + £1.97 Gift Aid
	Tremendous. Congratulations to Dave & Mac. The likes of you make life worthwhile. Donation by Yates Family 24/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	I heard about this on the news - a fantastic achievement. Truly inspirational. Well done. Donation by Russell Hughes 24/04/08	£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid
	You are a star! Congratulations. Donation by Bridges Family 23/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Well done. For this wonderful achievement you deserve to reach your target. Donation by Carol and Dave 23/04/08	£10.00
	Congratulations on an outstanding achievement Donation by Sheila and Brian 23/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Well done! Wonderful achievement - an inspiration to us all. Donation by pauline and geoff 22/04/08	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Inspirational and Heart- Warming. Wow! What an achievement! Well Done & Lola Lola! Donation by Brian James Jackie Tracy Tree & Karen 22/04/08	£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid
	Fantastic Acheivement. Well Done. Donation from myself and my mother Donation by Steve S 22/04/08	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Fantastic achievement Donation by John Ashcroft 22/04/08	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Unbelievable courage - you make me feel very humble Donation by Vicky 22/04/08	£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid
	well done, unbelievable achievement Donation by Jane Bowers 21/04/08	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

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* Total raised online:	£17,663.17
Offline donations:	£15,939.85
Gift Aid plus supplement:	£4,179.26

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