A nine-year-old boy from South Benfleet, Essex, is following in his dad and older brother’s fundraising footsteps as he takes on a walking challenge for The Sick Children’s Trust.
Arthur Lindsay will be walking 30 miles, the distance between the family’s home in South Benfleet to The Sick Children’s Trust’s Stevenson House in Whitechapel, London, in six manageable stages. Arthur’s parents, Alex and Sam, stayed at the charity’s ‘Home from Home’ when his older brother, Henry, was born 13 weeks premature in 2010 and required specialist treatment in London.
Henry had a condition which was causing tissue in his bowel to deteriorate and die. He underwent four major operations before turning five months old as well as battling pneumonia miles away from home. Stevenson House made sure Alex and Sam were never more than a two-minute walk from his hospital bedside so they could always be together.
In a previous effort to thank the charity for its support, Alex completed a sponsored walk covering 42 miles in one day as well as taking on the London Marathon. In 2020, when he was just ten years old, Henry completed a 48-mile cycling challenge throughout the school holidays. It is now Arthur’s turn to follow in the family footsteps, supporting the charity by taking on a challenge which he aims to complete on 27 May, his tenth birthday. Alex said:
“Being able to stay at Stevenson House was an absolute godsend. It was heart-breaking when we couldn’t stay by Henry’s side but being just a short walk away was so important. You can’t put a price on how valuable Stevenson House and the charity’s other ‘Homes from Home’ are to families.
“Both Arthur and Henry wanted to fundraise to help other people. We’ve put all these challenges together to help more families who find themselves in the same situation as us. We know how much charities have been affected by the pandemic so we wanted to help The Sick Children’s Trust as much as possible.”
Arthur, who has completed 12 miles of his challenge so far said:
“After seeing videos of daddy doing his fundraising walk and helping Henry with his cycling challenge, I wanted to do something to help as well. The challenge has been tough so far and my legs have been aching after each stage, which is about six miles. But I really like the feeling I get when I have finished part of the challenge.
“I’ve really enjoyed it when my family have been able to join me on part of the walks, with mummy, daddy and Henry all coming along as well as my grandparents. It’s nice to get out more, away from screens and it feels really good to know I’m helping other families.”
This year The Sick Children’s Trust is celebrating 40 years of keeping families, like Henry’s, together with their seriously ill children in hospital. Since 1982 the charity has supported over 73,000 families from across the country. Community Fundraising Officer, Charlotte Coldrey, said:
“This is an incredible challenge that Arthur is taking on and it’s so wonderful that he wanted to follow Alex and Henry in fundraising to support Stevenson House and our other families. All their fundraising is going a long way to make sure families can stay close to their seriously ill children while they are in hospital.
“While we do not charge families to stay in any of our ‘Homes from Home’, it does cost the charity £40 to support a family for one night. As part of our 40th anniversary celebrations we’ve launched an appeal to raise £237,000 which will support a family in every one of our 148 rooms in our ten ‘Homes from Home’ for 40 nights.”
To keep up to date with all of Arthur’s fundraising and to donate, follow the link to his Facebook fundraising page https://www.facebook.com/donate/708719820287502/10158926983509514/
