Hi there!!

My wife and I are regular walkers with the Centurions however I started feeling unwell around July 2023; in fact about the time we did a long walk around the northern half of Lake Windermere with the group. The cover photo is me on that actual walk in fact although it is obviously me looking a lot better than I have more recently which you'll understand more why as you read below. Incidentally this photo is courtesy of Rory Stephen of the Centurions who kindly suggested I use it for my page cover as he said cos I look daft it might get us more money in.

Anyway after starting to feel unwell, I had numerous tests and a few weeks later I was told I had an infection on two of my heart valves and that surgery was required. I was swiftly admitted to James Cook Hospital and my experience of our superb NHS was about to begin.

After a successful operation I woke up in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit where I spent five days with one to one care. The young team of nurses that looked after me 24/7 could not have been more caring and considerate of both my mental and physical state. Some would say "to be expected" but what these people see and deal with on a day-to-day basis is above and beyond and should not be taken for granted.

The lovely staff in the unit not only looked after me physically but provided humour when needed and reassured me that at I would be back out walking with the Centurions again in the near future and possibly more importantly they provided much needed comfort to my wife and family that I would be as good as new and make a full recovery.

I would like to express my huge thanks to the team at the James Cook Cardiac Intensive Care Unit by trying to raise some desperately needed funds for them to be able to help other people in the same and perhaps worse state than I was.

I am still not up to doing long walks however on Saturday 22nd June some of the more hardy Centurions are going to try to help raise funds for the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit by doing the Lyke Wake Walk from Osmotherley to Ravenscar, which is 40 miles across the most bleak of countryside and in fact it can be quite brutal in poor weather, crossing rivers and navigating through deep bogs along their way.

A couple of the walkers have done this walk before however for most of them it is their first long walk and for sure for all it is going to be a very difficult and tiring walking challenge.

Instead of walking, I will be the guy driving to meet them at points wherever I can get my car to provide support, carry bags, replenishing water supplies, carry the injured and/or shattered off the walk to somewhere they can find some comfort etc etc.

So please ... if you are able to support with any donations to this wonderful cause then the staff at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of James Cook Hospital will be delighted to receive it so they can continue the incredible work they do.

Heaven forbid ... any one of us (even the fittest of us) can at anytime fall victim of a life-threatening heart condition.

So ... thank you for your support and the Centurions will be so grateful that their efforts will be rewarded in some way other than just getting their boots off their blister-peppered feet at the end of their gruelling slog.

Kind Regards

Paul McNaughton