Hiking for Little Heroes

Over Saturday 6th August and Sunday 7th August, Hiking for little heroes will be holding a mega 24-hour walking challenge for everyone in the community to get involved in. Our challenge is titled 24 Hours for Little Heroes and will allow participants to either walk individually or as part of a team and push themselves to their physical limits. The event will be staged at Craigavon lakes an ideal venue for such a challenge, while the aim is to raise as much money as possible for the Cancer Fund for Children, who do phenomenal work supporting children and families who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

Hiking for little heroes is a group made up of friends from across Northern Ireland, who together have been fundraising for the past 18 months. As of December 2021 we have raised in excess of £100,000 for childrens cancer charities. The group of avid adventurers were due to take on their own challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in January 2022, however as a result of the corona virus pandemic this has been postponed for 12 months.

While this delay has caused considerable disappointment, it allows us an extra 12 months of fundraising. All monies raised during 2022 will be donated to Cancer Fund for Children.

So why childrens cancer charities..

Several of our members are from Banbridge, Co. Down; a town which over the past number of years has had more than its fair share of childrens cancer diagnosis. The latest of which is 9-year-old Adam Watson. Adam is no stranger to the charity and helped Rory Best set off from Daisy lodge on his road to Mayo back in September 2021. In October 2019, at the age of 7, Adam was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. His little body has endured several rounds of intense chemotherapy and in May 2021 Adam received a cord blood transplant in Manchester Childrens Hospital. Unfortunately, Adam and his family have been dealt the cruel blow that this transplant has failed and the leukaemia has returned, but on a positive note Adam has been offered the opportunity of a 2nd transplant and will be leaving for Manchester in early March 2022.

It is through Adam that we have come to know the charities we have supported this far, and it was Adams decision to choose Cancer Fund for Children as our charity for 2022. It was Adams dad David, who came up with the idea of the 24 hour walk and along with the committee, is the driving force to ensuring this is a fantastic event and a huge fundraiser for the charity.

The Challenge.

What we aim to create is a challenge that is open to absolutely everyone. Each individual chooses their own challenge during this 24 hour period and can sign up as an individual or as part of a team. We simply want as many people to take part as possible, the more people taking part the more money well raise.