24 Nov Charity’s leadership team complete gruelling Land’s End to John O’Groats fundraising challenge
The senior leadership team at Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK) will walk the final mile together on Wednesday 24 November, at the end of a huge challenge started by CEO Catherine Woodhead more than 10 months ago, last February.
Amid huge financial challenges in 2021 brought on by the pandemic, Catherine embarked on the toughest physical challenge of her career.
The Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) challenge is a mammoth 874-mile trek, and Catherine had completed 225 miles when a severe injury stopped her daily pre-dawn walks back in February.
Undeterred, the charity’s senior leadership team took up the baton, taking turns to complete the 874-mile walk. As the world continued to work from home, the three men and three woman each clocked up miles by walking in their different counties.
They consisted of: Kate Adcock, MDUK Director of Research and Innovation, Rob Burley, MDUK Director of Campaigns Care and Support, Wojtek Trzcinski, MDUK Financial Director, Emma Jones Parry, MDUK, Associate Director of Development, Jacqueline Gaffin, MDUK Head of HR and former MDUK Director of Marketing and Communications, Stephen Mooney.
The LEJOG fundraising page can be reached here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/catwoodhead3
And today the group of six gathered in Catherine’s hometown of Chelmsford to complete their final mile together.
Catherine said, “I want to thank my senior leadership colleagues at Muscular Dystrophy UK for their determination in completing this challenge. Since an operation following my injury, progress is going so well that my physio thinks I can do the virtual London Marathon in 2022. I am going to commit to this once I know I can start training.”
Catherine added: “We must remember our incredible community who have been there with us, all the way through this. The resilience of individuals and families living with muscle-wasting conditions, the families who are managing a new diagnosis, the researchers finding ways to continue with their commitment to find new treatments, and clinicians supporting families on clinical trials, has been extraordinary. This determination and teamwork has enabled Muscular Dystrophy UK to work on access to seven treatments in the UK whilst managing a continuing increase on support from our helpline.”
Emma Jones-Parry is part of the charity’s senior leadership team in her role as Associate Director of Development. She clocked up 194 miles to support Catherine’s LEJOG challenge.
She said: “This was a great opportunity to take in the beauty of where I live and reflecting on the community we support at Muscular Dystrophy UK. I had a great companion who also enjoyed that I was getting out every day whatever the weather – and it was very wet in May! I finished my month on the truly stunning Isle of Skye.”
