Northwich Woodland Walk

Five years ago, the now 37-year-old father of two – Nathan Blundell – was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent radiotherapy.

Fortunately, he’s now doing well and helping us take strides towards a cure, joining The Twilight Walk 2018.

Nathan lives in Northwich – not far from previous The Twilight Walk location, Chester – and is part of an nine-strong group, all affected by brain tumours. Together, they’re organising one of our biggest own walks and keeping the spirit of Chester going!

“Since I was diagnosed with a brain tumour me, my family and friends have supported The Brain Tumour Charity. My parents have taken part in The Twilight Walk in Chester for the past five years and I’ve been to the last three –as I was still feeling a bit rough from treatment in the beginning.

“When the Chester walk moved to Edinburgh, a group of us living in the same area, who’d all been affected by brain tumours in one way or another, decided to put our heads together and hold our own walk instead.

“We all met up and had a meeting with the rangers at the park where we wanted to walk. We put our ideas across and they gave us the green light to go ahead. After that we started to get the idea out there, encouraging as many people as possible to take part, and it’s really just gone from there.

“It’s been fairly smooth sailing. Once the foundations are set everything starts slotting into place. We all get on well as we’re all part of the same team, which really helps, and each person’s got their own job, so that we’re not putting it all on one head.

“It’s been amazing so far. More and more people want to get involved, they’re coming from everywhere – Manchester, Liverpool, Chester. And they’ve all been affected too. But it’s great as we just figure the more people that come together and help raise money, the more that goes into research.

“Organising the walk and just being involved in The Twilight Walk, it gives us a real sense of that camaraderie. You can feel the commitment of each person involved in this challenge – all walking together, for the same reason – to fund more research and to stamp out brain tumours!”

Becky is also helping organise the Northwich walk – for her it’s in memory of her husband, Craig, who sadly died of a glioblastoma in 2015, shortly after the birth of their daughter. Craig was also a close friend of Becky’s brother, Darren, who is also helping organising the walk. Becky said:

“My husband, Craig, died of a brain tumour and a lot of our friends are suffering with brain tumours, so we’d like to do everything we can to raise awareness, fund more research and keep Craig’s memory alive.

“The Charity was such a comfort after he died. There was always someone at The Charity to speak to and going to The Twilight Walk in Chester made me feel like I was part of something, so I’m excited to take part by organising my own walk this year.”

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in organising this walk – Nathan, Becky, Darren, Leanne, Louise, Emma, Carl, Katy and Ruth.