Olivia Walls, 12, and friend Isla Floreza, 11, have been walking 1.61 miles every day this month in a bid to raise funds for the “vital” St Cuthbert’s Hospice, in Durham.
The fundraising push was launched by the duo after the much-loved hospice announced it was in crisis before Christmas, facing cuts in “vital” services and job losses amid spiralling costs.
The news hit close to home for the Walls family, who had been touched by the “caring and compassionate” hospice when Olivia’s grandmother Hazel was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Olivia Walls, 12, and friend Isla Floreza, 11 (Image: CONTRIBUTOR)
Hazel – who was “kind and caring” and a “fantastic” grandma to Olivia and her brother Lewis – tragically died in June 2017 at 61, just one year after marrying Rachel’s dad Michael Heron.
At the end of her life, Hazel was staying at the Durham hospice, where staff gave her “care and love” and made her last few weeks “as peaceful and comfortable as possible.”
Olivia’s mother Rachel Walls, Hazel’s step-daughter, described Hazel as a person who “loved to laugh”: “She was always making things and baking with the kids.
Hazel, who died in June 2017, and her husband Michael (Image: CONTRIBUTOR)
“She loved to crochet and cross stitch. She also had a wonderful relationship with her son Chris, she absolutely adored him.”
It was the news of the hospice facing crisis point that inspired Olivia into doing the challenge, with the duo now about to top a staggering £1,000.
And sub-zero temperatures, snow, and dark winter nights were nothing for the determined duo, who have never wavered from the challenge.
The duo with their fundraising buckets (Image: CONTRIBUTOR)
Rachel, from Meadowfield, told The Northern Echo: “Olivia was only five years old when her grandma died, she can still remember her.
“We went to the hospice the other day and she could remember parts. [Hazel’s death] was really sad. I knew St Cuthbert’s before as I know somebody else who died.
“But they do such an amazing job there – you can’t really appreciate how caring and compassionate they are until you experience it.”
They have walked every day this month (Image: CONTRIBUTOR)
The 45-year-old described Hazel’s passing as “sudden” for the family: “By the time they realised anything was wrong, it was already at stage four, and it was just too late to do anything.
“She was too far gone.”
As reported in The Echo last month, hospice chief executive Paul Marriott said the charity needs significant and recurrent funding to prevent an “existential risk”.
A total of 28 staff have been left facing redundancy – and if services are forced to close, this would mean about 250 fewer people will receive a service from the hospice next year.
Rachel, a security company worker, said: “There’s been a lot of publicity recently that the hospice is struggling and to be honest, we wanted to do something to try and help, even if it was just to raise a little bit.
“I’ve been sharing the Just Giving page and we have raised nearly £1,000 already which is great, just from family and friends sharing it.
“We’ve mainly been doing it around the area where we live but on the weekend we have gone a bit further, and we’re hoping to go to Durham city centre.”
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Rachel and Olivia met teams at St Cuthbert’s recently where they were given some t-shirts and buckets to help with their fundraising.
“They’ve been enjoying it”, Rachel explained. “They’ve been out there slipping and sliding in ice – but they’re still enthusiastic about it!”
You can donate to Olivia and Isla’s Just Giving page here.