‘Valve Buddies’

(Jim & Keith's thanksgiving walk with prosthetic heart valves)

On 5th September 2026 Jim and Keith will be walking from Bath Abbey to Bristol Cathedral (a distance of approximately 25km). Their purpose is to thank God and the amazing medical teams at Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) for their life-saving heart surgery in 2022. Their route will initially follow the River Avon out of Bath and then along the Bristol and Bath Railway Path into the centre of Bristol.

In separate months in 2022 we both underwent a 5 hour operation to replace the malfunctioning aortic valve in our heart. These valves are manufactured by Edwards Medical. We now carry near identical medical cards, each with the unique serial number of our valve!

Whilst walking to give thanks for the past 4 years of surgically enhanced life we have set ourselves a target to raise a minimum sponsorship of £1,600 and an optimistic maximum target of £50,000. The minimum target would cover the estimated cost for specialised suture devices for two patients. The maximum target would cover the estimated cost of the whole treatment for one further patient.

The named recipient is Bristol and Weston Hospitals Charity. They will direct all sponsorship to the Heart Institute which sits within the larger organisation.

We would be delighted if you wanted to join us for the whole or part of the thanksgiving walk. If so ,then please let us know and we can forward estimated timings and locations etc. You might instead want to walk part of the distance at your own location to join us in thanking the medical team members for all their years of study and practice that enables them to safely perform such a life-enhancing operation.

We will start the walk at 9:00 outside Bath Abbey with a blessing from James Stevenson, vicar of Bishopston and St. Andrews Church (B&A) Bristol. Do come and join with us on any part of this enterprise, either with us on the day in person, or virtually wherever you are.

We would love it if you could join us!