STOP PRESS! I have just completed the walk; 226 miles - unbelievably lucky with the weather, and a lot of fun! Tricia Durston accompanied me for the whole distance, and we were joined by several others for periods ranging from a couple of hours to a whole week.
You can see some photos of the walk on my Facebook page, and in due course |I will publish an account - watch this space!
I contracted Psoriatic Arthritis in the early 1990s, while I was still in the Navy. Those of you who have known me for that long will remember the devastating effects it can have; going up and down stairs on my bum, walking with sticks or worse, putting on 4 stone... Over the years my outstanding medical advisors tried all sorts of stuff - Vioxx (until it was withdrawn...), Sulfasalazine (until it didn't work), Diclofenac, the dreaded Methotrexate... They all kind of helped, but not that much; alleviating symptoms at best, but not really giving me my life back.
But then in Spring 2008 I started Etanercept. From over 50 pills a week to a single virtually painless injection - and a total transformation (how else do you think I could contemplate walking 226 miles?).
These drugs are amazing, but they're also very expensive, and they're still not a cure. I'm well aware that I am one of the lucky ones; my life has been given back to me, but I still have the disease. I want to make sure that other people with arthritis as bad as mine, or worse (and you should see some of the young children at the clinics I go to...) get the same chances as me, and more.
Hence the walk; I walked from Salisbury to Canterbury, via Winchester, Farnham, onto the North Downs Way, Reigate, Rochester, Maidstone, Dover and then back up to Canterbury. 226 miles, taking 16 days; starting at Salisbury Cathedral on Sunday 3 May & finishing at Canterbury Cathedral on Wednesday 20 May.
Thank you so much, everyone, for your extraordinary generosity.
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