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Search forEight-day trek is all about helping other's in Becky's name
Saturday, August 30, 2008, 08:00
Becky had cystic fibrosis and was being assessed for a lung transplant when she died in Harefield Hospital when she was 19.
Now her parents, Clive and Joyce, and sister, Jo, hope to raise thousands of pounds for research by retracing Becky's final journey between the hospital and her home city.
They will walk the 112 miles over eight days in October, setting out from Harefield in Middlesex and completing the Trek for Becks at Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI).
More than £7,000 has already been donated and thousands more pledged, with the money to be divided between Harefield and Bristol for research into cystic fibrosis (CF) and the procedure known as a lobectomy – transplanting a section of a donor's lungs to a patient.
Clive and Joyce had offered to be living donors, giving part of their lungs to Becky, but they were unable to make their gift as she became too poorly in the last few weeks of her life. But the couple, of Westbury-on-Trym, want to help others who could benefit from such procedures and further research by raising as much as possible in Becky's name.
Clive and Joyce, both solicitors, have been putting on their walking gear and stepping out for training sessions for months in preparation for their marathon and have invited other fundraisers to join them on the trek. Numbers will be restricted to 10 a day for the first seven days, but they hope for a big turn-out on the final day, when the walkers will complete 10 miles from Bath to the former Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory in Greenbank, following the Bath to Bristol cycle track that goes past the building.
After a reception at the factory, Clive, Joyce and 26-year-old Jo, who is training to be a paediatric nurse, will then continue to the BRI by themselves for the last part of the walk into the city centre.
Joyce, 54, said: "We're not really walkers. Clive plays golf and I play tennis but about a year ago we started going to the gym and have been putting in long walks in preparation. Becky would certainly have laughed at the thought of us going to a gym."
Becky was diagnosed with CF – the UK's most common life-threatening inherited disease – when she was eight months old and throughout her life had many hospital admissions. She would have to take up to 100 tablets a day and, at one point, she had so many lung infections that she had part of a lung removed. But she refused to let her condition, the physiotherapy needed to help her and the other effects on her health stop her leading as normal a life as possible.
She was keen on drama, joined the Brownies as a youngster and even played the trumpet. Clive, 55, said: "She was a real character. She wanted to do so much and didn't want her condition to stop her."
Becky attended Red Maids' junior and senior schools, won a Child of Achievement Award when she was 13 and got high GCSE grades. She then went to Bristol Cathedral School's sixth form to do her A-levels before starting at Bristol University.
Joyce said: "She had university accommodation, but was struggling a bit by then and had to have oxygen pretty constantly.
"She decided to defer a year to give herself a break from constant exams and pressure and to get fit.
"She bought herself a running machine, got a part-time job to earn a bit of cash and was trying to learn to drive."
Clive said: "She also enrolled on an Italian course and was going to learn the guitar."
But Becky's condition meant she was referred to Harefield and her illness became worse in the last six weeks of her life. She died at the hospital in March 2004.
Sadly, none of her organs were able to be used for transplants to help other people – something that would have made her furious, according to her parents. They hope more organ donations will help patients with many conditions and reduce the waiting list for vital operations.
The walk is hoped to make more people aware of CF as well as raise money in thanks for the care Becky received at the BRI – and when she was younger at Bristol Children's Hospital – and Harefield.
Clive and Joyce said they had received much support for their trek, including from the financial services firm Jelf Group, whose founder Chris Jelf will be walking with them for five of the eight days. The business has also chosen the trek as one of its charities to support for a year.
Anyone who wants to get involved in the walk can sign up through www.trekforbecks.co.uk where there are details of the route and an application form, as well as details on how to donate.
Clive said: "Becky would have found all of this a big laugh – us going out in our shorts and trainers and walking so much. She'd be giggling as we speak. But we hope to raise tens of thousands of pounds to help others like her."
Becky Westlake
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