English gym team here to complete challenge in aid of girl with rare cancer
Agroup of English are in the country to help raise funds for a little girl back home in need of medical treatment only available in the United States.
Seven-year-old, Eden Smith, suffers from a rare form of cancer.
Hearing of her ailment and because she lives in the same town as them, prompted Northern Fitness Gym team from Huddersfield Town in England to raise funds.
The fundraising involves travelling overseas and a set of fitness sports challenges including marathon and skydiving.
Eden needs about £300,000 (about F$1 million) and so far the group began their marathon covering 315 miles on foot around Viti Levu in just 13 days. It began in Nadi They aim to raise $35,000.
The members immediately began their journey in Nadi when they arrived on May 27.
The team who is in Suva has so far completed 310 miles and aim to finish off on Thursday.
Northern Fitness Gym member, Craig Lee, Brent Lee, Michelle Anderson said the gym members were committed to fundraising money to help people.
“We saw her (Eden’s) dad on social media put something out and we just thought, as a community gym and with the number of members we’ve got, we can raise a lot of money.
“There are people from the gym that are doing skydiving, walks and coming to Fiji was the final thing, this grabbed our attention and we thought we could help.”
He said it was their first time in Fiji and the members were up at 6am daily to take on the challenge.
“It’s been a challenging run,” he said.
“It’s been the hardest thing any one of us have ever done, being in this heat is difficult for us, but we are doing it for a good cause,” said Mr Lee.
He added a Fijian family in England suggested to the team to complete their mission in Fiji.
“The Fijian people have been unbelievably welcoming and we have been blown away by that.”