Terry Smith and his 8 year old daughter Poppy Smith are KAYAKING ACROSS THE COUNTRY!
In June 2021 Terry, and Poppy (then age 7, now 8) began an epic adventure to help raise money towards ME/CFS research! They started in Liverpool on the west coast and are kayaking 162 miles across the country to Goole on the east coast.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a long-term (chronic), fluctuating, neurological condition that causes symptoms affecting many body systems. People with M.E./CFS experience debilitating fatigue, widespread pain, neurological issues, hypersensitivity to light and sound, and many other symptoms. Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) is a key feature of the disease, the body and brain’s inability to recover after expending even small amounts of energy. This means that every activity (no matter how basic) has unproportional repercussions and can worsen symptoms for hours/days or even weeks. M.E./CFS affects an estimated 250,000 people in the UK, and around 17 million people worldwide. Shockingly very little medical research is funded, and so very little is known about the cause and sufferers are left with ineffective treatment. Often M.E./CFS can be triggered by a viral infection, so with the inevitable dramatic increase triggered by Covid and Long Covid it is even more important to invest in medical treatment to tackle this devastating disease.
Terry and Poppy started kayaking at the weekends to give Aimee Terry’s wife and Poppy’s mum, an ME sufferer, time to rest, then Terry had the idea to challenge themselves, raise awareness, and fundraise for ME Research UK. So far, they have raised just over £2,500.
They are following the Desmond Family Canoe Trail spanning from west to east coasts of the UK in an inflatable kayak! This mission takes them the full length of the Leeds Liverpool Canal then onto the River Aire, and Calder Navigation. It has/is taking many weekends by splitting the journey into manageable chunks; they have done 17 sessions so far. At points they have been joined by family/friends helping to both motivate and to deal with the complicated logistics of travel. They have passed through rural and urban areas, over aqueducts, under viaducts, through tunnels and even over the motorway and unfortunately have had to deal with multiple boat punctures. It’s a marathon challenge but they are having fun, meeting lovely people along the way, and raising awareness. They have completed 108 miles so far with a further 54 to go, wish them luck!
IF POSSIBLE PLEASE HELP TO SUPPORT THIS HUGE TASK.
For more information please see Terry’s fundraising page/travel log below:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/for-those-like-aimee
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