‘Walking keeps me going’

After being told she’ll be e in a wheelchair in her 30s, 55-year-old

Kathy Cox uses daily walks to help her defy medicine. ‘I’d just qualified as a nurse when a car accident t left me struggling to walk, sit or stand, and my mobility was gradually decreasing. It was another 18 months before I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, where the spine and other areas become inflamed.

‘My consultant told me, “You will probably never walk properly, you’ll need your hips replacing and likely end up in a wheelchair by your mid30s.” I turned to my mum and said: “I’ll prove him wrong.” ‘For ‘F years I lived with the belief b that walking any distance d could make my condition worse. Then my GP told me I was pre-diabetic. I made the decision d to lose 50lbs by my 50th birthday less than eight months away and started with a 20-minute walk before I was tired. Within what a few days I was walking three miles, then five, the end of the road became the head of the bay. Now I can walk 1000 miles, and once even walked 144 miles in 11 days.

‘My rheumatologist says I defy medicine; I plan to continue. It’s a tough gig, but I persevere because I know walking is what keeps me going physically and mentally.’