An amazing friend of mine Gavin, sadly lost his wife to cystic fibrosis 10 years ago. Gav is still on his own after all this time. His beautiful Trina was and still is the love of his life.

About 7 years ago Gav joined a salsa class and found a new “ salsa family” which brought him back to life. Over the years, living alone, my mate has succumbed to comfort eating and gaining a bit of weight. During lockdown, the one highlight of his week, salsa dancing with his salsa family was taken from him and despite having a sunny disposition it started to take its toll.

To combat the isolation I suggested he started walking, to get some exercise and feel better, and as soon as the restrictions were eased we started walking together. Big Gav has gone from 19 stone 11 to 19 stone in a couple of weeks!! But more importantly he has found motivation and comfort from being connected again. We are setting up a Just giving page for “Walk with Gav”, so we can raise money for an amazing local community group “Get the boys a lift” who provide vital mental health support in our area and is “inspired by talking”. In Gav’s own words “ It‘s the company which is the best bit for me... fitness and weight loss is just a bonus“.

Any funds received will also be shared for research into cystic fibrosis in memory of his beautiful wife Trina, and for diabetes research as Gav is type 2. Mental health and wellbeing is the most important thing we have, and our walking and talking together is proving just that. Gavin is a super star with a heart of gold and he is sooo motivated... so as we walk and talk and take care of our mental and physical health, we wanted to raise money for some amazing causes. Gavin is aiming for one million steps on top of his daily activity to help others like him... dig deep people and “Walk with Gav” Xxx