AN INSPIRATIONAL stage four cancer patient has completed Britain’s toughest walk – just months after being on a life support machine.
Dad-of-two Martyn Wells was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in March 2017 and since then has been raising money to support Macmillan nurses.
The IT director at Leamington law firm Wright Hassall was joined by four friends and together they walked more than 180 miles across the Cape Wrath train in the Scottish wilderness. It saw each person carry a 17kg bag with all the supplies needed.
And the expedition was even more challenging as just six months before Martyn was on a life support machine on an intensive care unit after developing pneumonia and chest sepsis. The effects of both infections meant he had to learn to walk again.
The 50-year-old said: “I was elated to complete such a difficult challenge, supported by my brilliant team. The weather was extreme and took care of any chance that we might complete the entire trail in 10 days, but what we completed was truly exceptional.
“It is a pleasure to bring awareness of the overall shortage in funding of cancer support in the United Kingdom and to fund-raise to enable more patients and their families to enjoy the great support Macmillan Cancer Support provide to people, like me, under these difficult circumstances.”
So far Martyn has raised some £36,500, and donations are still coming in.
And last year the avid fund-raiser took on a 211 mile walk from Powys to Bristol, raising £46,000.
Macmillan spokeswoman Sarah Diston said: “What Martyn has achieved is incredible. He’s had to overcome so many setbacks because of his cancer diagnosis. Six months after he was in intensive care he’s walked across a wild and unmarked trail regarded as the UK’s toughest long-distance walk. He really is remarkable and such an inspiration.”
Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/capewrathtrail2019 to donate or find out more.