Alps trek an emotional fundraiser for Rick
Alyssa Fritzlaff
by
A Neerim South man has raised more than $27,000 to take pressure off a young family facing a devastating cancer diagnosis.
Rick Kamphuis trekked the 655km Australian Alps Walking Track for his fundraiser “Hayley’s Hill”, created to support the Morris family.
Former locals Hayley and Wayne Morris received Hayley’s stage four metastatic breast cancer diagnosis in January.
The fundraiser will help Wayne take time off work to support Hayley and relieve the pressures of household medical bills allowing them to make the most of their time together with their three children.
Rick has been friends with the Morris family for many years and hopes the fundraiser not only supports them but helps to raise awareness and encourages people to get screened.
Two months after launching Hayley’s Hill Rick set off on his journey to Canberra.
He left Namadgi Visitors Centre on April 2 and began trekking through Namadgi National Park. Despite being an avid hiker Rick faced some challenges, including dangerous weather conditions and a toe infection.
The first few days of his hike went well. Rick experienced relatively good weather and made good progress.
By day six, however, Rick ran into trouble when he encountered a rare April snowstorm.
He had just 10 metres of visibility and faced extreme winds - but he powered through.
Night eight was spent at Charlie Carter’s hut where Rick had a stand-off with a deer buck.
Throughout his journey, various supporters joined him to offer support and deliver supplies, walking 30 to 40km each day - a target he set to allow him to reach Walhalla within 23 days.
While the majority of the trek was smooth sailing, Rick suffered with blisters and a toe infection he needed medical help for. His bad luck from Mt Kosciuszko continued to Hotham, where he continued to face sub-zero temperatures and icy rain, making it difficult to keep anything dry. The third phase of the hike saw Rick battle steep inclines, and sore knees and ankles.
From day one Rick voice-recorded updates and recaps of each day, posting the messages and photographs to Facebook.
On April 24 Rick was greeted by Hayley, her children and her supporters in Walhalla. He completed the final stretch of the trek with Wayne Morris and the two crossed the finish line together at 2.30pm.
“Hayley was there front and centre... it was
pretty emotional.”
To complete the journey, Rick, the Morris family and their supporters attended The Wally Pub to have a bite to eat and hear more about Rick’s journey.
Rick said he did not realise the momentum the fundraiser had gained until he returned home and was able to check social media.
“Support was filtering through while I was out there, but I probably didn’t realise the magnitude of it all until I got home and I was able to read a few comments.”
“I didn’t expect that sort of overwhelming response.”