Thanks for making it this far...

The little beauty in the photo is Georgia Macpherson, the daughter of my dear friends Nick & Emma. She is also in the video on the left here.

Back in September Georgia was diagnosed with the medical condition, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and, tragically, was given just 2 - 5 months to live.

After a very brave fight against this terrible condition, Georgia died on Sunday January 6th, aged just 8 months.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a genetic disorder, currently affecting around 1 in 10,000 babies. Most people have never heard of it, but it is the number one genetic killer of infants and toddlers.

Nick and Emma have been unbelievably strong. They have been an inspiration to all of us in the face of unimaginable misery.

I am planning on walking a double marathon (52 miles) from my house in Oxfordshire leaving on Thursday Feb 7th, ending up at Georgia, Nick & Emma's house in Berkshire sometime on Saturday Feb 9th. The walk is to raise money for the Jennifer Trust who help families get through this awful illness, and they also carry out research to try and help lessen its impact in the future. Within hours of them hearing about little Georgia, they had sent a crate of special toys and equipment to help Nick & Emma. Since then they have provided them with huge amounts of advice, support and counselling.

Anyone who knows me will know that I am a fat knacker who in the past has been less than enthusiastic about walking 52 yards, so 52 miles will be quite a sweaty exercise.

This will be a struggle for me, but so definitely worth it.

I want to raise £10,400, so £200 a mile. Please dig deep and do your best to help me on my way. It will mean an awful lot to me, and even more to Nick and Emma.

If you could all try and donate 50p a mile, then I think I might be able to reach my target. Any more would of course be very gratefully received.

There are a few of us doing the walk - the link to their Just Giving pages is at the bottom of this page. Together we have raised over £62,000 (as of 1 Feb).

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Jennifer Trust for SMA will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Thank you all very, very much.

Gav

Well, we did it.

Thank you so much for all your messages of support and your very generous sponsorship. It really meant so much, and it made it so much easier knowing that there were 280 people rooting for us.

And we raised around £77,000 - with money still coming in.

52 miles became around 55 as we managed to get lost on the final leg, and ended up going round in circles in the dark in a housing estate in Newbury.

There were 17 permanent walkers, 1 permanent dog, and many, many people who came and walked with us for sectors or days. And Brian & Nics were a brilliant support crew.

We did a fair number of cheesy local media interviews, which whilst not making us much money, they did, I hope raise some awareness of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, The Jennifer Trust and Naomi House.

The weather was absolutely unbelievable - totally perfect. It was the best 3 days weather in February that any of us could ever, ever remember. Maybe the prayers from The Archbishop of Canterbury had the desired effect...

The banter was flowing. The camaraderie was as tight as a gnats chuff. The gags were great (Spence's fart machine in his back-pack was inspired). The team spirit was as good as it gets. And a few pubs were stopped iat along the way.

Maybe that is why it took us 3 days to walk it, and why we arrived at our check points in the dark every night.

The last 7 miles were bloody tough, as the blisters did finally appear and my feet were aching like a bugger.

It is hard to explain the feeling as we crossed the line. It felt great to have set out what we achieved. I felt so proud of my team of 4 other walkers (Shitter, Aubery, Schlick & Lib) without whom I am certain that I wouldn't have been able to make it. I was overwhelmed by the amount of money we had raised. But most of all I felt we had done something special in memory of lovely Georgia, and something worthy of the amazing friendship that we all have with her parents, Emma & little Ernie.

On a personal level, it reassured me of the power of a simple idea, the warm glow that real friendship and teamwork gives you, and the sense of satisfaction of achieving your goals and doing something good.

It has motivated me to keep walking (though not for a while) and to try and do some more team-based "good" stuff in the future (though this will be a hard act to beat).

Unsurprisingly, I ache now, as well as feeling very flat, and still a little emotional about it all.

I have attached a bunch of photos here (though for some reason they are in reverse order) and we have a website too that you can check out www.fatmenwalking.org.

All that remains for me to say is a very big thank you again to each and every one of you for supporting me and my fellow chubby walkers.

We were all a little part of doing a good thing here.

Thank you

Gav x