A father is taking on a seven-day trek to raise money for hospital equipment and to “give back” to groups who supported his daughter after a horse-riding accident.
In June last year, 14-year-old Ava Hearnshaw of Alsager was thrown off a horse during a riding lesson, leaving her unable to walk. She was air-lifted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for treatment.
When her father Chris, officer commanding for Alsager 2493 Air Cadets, noticed the medical centre was short of equipment, he decided he would undertake a sponsored walk along Hadrian’s Wall.
Mr Hearnshaw told the “Chronicle”: “The nurses struggled to locate enough hygiene chairs as they didn’t have enough to cover all the wards.
“I wanted to raise money to fund as many chairs as I possibly can, whether that’s one or six – although I didn’t appreciate how expensive they were at the time. They cost between £2,000 to £3,000 each.”
He described the hygiene chairs as “essential” for helping children move safely from bed, regain independence, and “manage their most basic needs with dignity” during recovery.
The 84-mile challenge will start on Sunday, 21st June and take a week, until Sunday 28th. Mr Hearnshaw will be joined by squadron members during his walk.
Over the past 12 months, he said his daughter had focused on rehabilitation as she “forgot all basic necessities and had to learn them all again”, with Alsager Leisure Centre, where staff helped her learn how to swim again with hydrotherapy.
Mr Hearnshaw said: “They have been fantastic with Ava. I didn’t even know if she would be able to get out of bed but now she’s able to start walking and swimming again because of the help and support she’s been given.”
Miss Hearnshaw had been volunteering at the gym while completing her bronze Duke of Edinburgh award and was described as “lucky” after a “roller-coaster” 12 months.
The Alsager 2493 Air Cadets will also be taking on the challenge but in a virtual walk that will take more than eight weeks.
“When the cadets heard we were doing the walk, they decided to join and raise money for the squadron as they have been wanting to give back to them,” said Mr Hearnshaw.
“But it wasn’t practical to take the cadets on a seven-day walk so we decided they could complete it virtually by logging so many miles per week.”
The cadets were put into small groups and can log how many miles they do individually.
Mr Hearnshaw wanted to make the challenge accessible to all cadets and said the miles could be completed “anyway they wanted to” but capped the daily distance to prevent one person “doing all the mileage”.
He said the squadron also supported his daughter through her recovery and “that’s how the two fundraisers came together”.
Donations to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital can be made online (2493rafac.org/alder-hey-walk) and donations to Alsager 2493 Squadron at tinyurl.com/3ky6u9nv
