274 MILES TO WALK – AND IT’S GAME OFF!
FUNDRAISER Richie Hellon set off on a six-day, 274-mile charity walk to watch his beloved Tranmere Rovers play at Dover – only for the game to be postponed minutes before kick-off !
The hero postman trekked across the country from his Birkenhead home to the Kent seaside port to raise awareness and money for the Spider-Edie appeal, in aid of four-year old Edie Molyneux, who is currently being treated for a brain tumour in Mexico.
But when the 53-yearold finally arrived at Crabble for the Good Friday match – only for the game to be called off just two hours before the scheduled 3pm kick-off due to waterlogged pitch.
“Literally as I got outside the ground, I got told it was called off,” moaned Richie, who is a colleague of Edie’s aunt. “I really thought that they were having me on.
“Edie was my main reason for walking here. The match was a bonus.”
“I knew I was going to Dover anyway, and I decided to walk there as soon as I found out about Edie. I walked for over six days, starting on Sunday [March 25].
“The first five days was about 50 miles a day.
“The first four days were great, it was the last couple which was a massive challenge for me, which is what killed my feet.
“The second day’s walk from Stoke to Nuneaton, I was walking in the middle of nowhere for eight hours, and then the A5 there was just trees, nothing else.
“Then in London, I got to one of my hotels at about 10.30pm in London to find out that I could not check in without photographic ID. The only way I could check in was for someone back home to send a picture via email of my passport!
“Without that, I would have been sleeping homeless for the night.”
Edie has been receiving experimental treatment for DPIG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma) – a rare type of brain cancer – and is one of the children looked after by the Bradley Lowery Foundation.
Richie, a lifelong Rovers fan, has raised over £3,500 for Edie on his Just Giving fundraising account, with supporters from all over the country donating.
But with a total of £700,000 needing to be raised, the funds are still some way off.