HEAVY LOAD
Battling cancer one step at a time
After losing both his mum and brother to cancer, Lieutenant Julian Thacker always knew he wanted to do something to help battle the disease.
So, he decided this year he would finally put that plan into action and participate in the Relay for Life on March 10-11, walking in his full firefighting kit.
He enlisted the help of Sergeant Dan Klaassen, 30, also from Linton Military Camp, and the pair are set to walk for 24 hours, aiming to walk 100 kilometres in that time.
Thacker, 45, is a radiographer and volunteer firefighter in the Defence Force. He said it was 10 years since his brother and mother died of cancer, so he thought it was fitting to do something this year.
He had seen others do similar fundraising efforts, which gave him the idea, and he initially planned to walk alone. However, after approaching the Linton Military Camp fire brigade, he was told it was a health and safety risk and he could not walk 100km in a full firefighter kit by himself.
Klaassen, who is a firefighter in the Defence Force, said Fire and Emergency New Zealand had a rule that when you were using a breathing apparatus, you had to have a 20 minutes rest after each use.
This meant Thacker would not be able to reach his goal of 100km. So, Klaassen offered to do it with him.
One of them will walk until their cylinder runs out, then they will rest while the other takes over on the track.
Klaassen said when he agreed to do it he had not put much thought into the task. ‘‘I thought this can’t be too dissimilar to [other charity events]. But, it’s completely different. It’s going to be a good test of mental resilience.’’
The pair have been training for a month, doing a lot of walking in circles in their kit. They hoped to raise $3000.