Trustee Stephen simply retains swimming | Information & Tales

In 1982 when Stephen was 11 his classmate Kate, the primary lady he ever appreciated, died out of the blue. She had simply began secondary faculty and may have had the remainder of her life in entrance of her. Stephen learnt that she had died from meningitis, a illness he knew nothing about.

Kate’s Dad additionally contracted meningitis and was unable to attend his personal daughter’s funeral. Stephen later discovered that Kate’s Dad had died of meningitis in later life.

“I had never heard of meningitis. The experience really stayed with me.”

Little did he know on the time, however this terribly unhappy interval in Stephen’s life, and the phrase meningitis, could be introduced up once more a few years later. In 2013 Stephen met Jo and shortly fell in love. He additionally met Charlie, Jo’s 13-year-old son.

When Charlie was 9-months-old Jo had taken Charlie to the GP with flu signs. The physician despatched Jo and child Charlie house, with solely a suggestion to offer Charlie some Calpol. Jo endured, as she knew one thing wasn’t proper, and Charlie was ultimately rushed to hospital and was later identified with meningitis.

Miraculous restoration

Stephen isn’t spiritual however, when Jo instructed him that Charlie went right into a coma on Good Friday and awakened on Easter Monday, he couldn’t assist however word the miraculous nature of Charlie’s restoration. However, child Charlie wasn’t out of the woods. Charlie has an Acquired Brain Injury and he has additionally had a stroke. Stephen says:

“Charlie inspires me every day. Being able to get up and live a “normal life” after all the pieces he’s been via. He’s positively an enormous inspiration for my fundraising for Meningitis Now and to boost consciousness of how meningitis impacts individuals’s lives.”

Stephen grew to become a Meningitis Now Trustee in 2022. He utilized for the position within the hope of bringing his expertise from his day job (working the biggest shared service within the NHS) to assist Meningitis Now be one of the best it may be. However, he has been taking up problem occasions to fundraise for the charity since 2011.

Leap of religion

Stephen remembers three occasions he’s significantly pleased with out of the numerous he’s undertaken for Meningitis Now over time. His first fundraising problem in 2008 was a real leap of religion, 10,000 ft from the bottom! Stephen remembers his solo skydive because the ‘scariest and most peaceful’ factor he’s ever carried out.

Stephen, who loves open water swimming, took on a 5 ¾ hour swim throughout Lake Windemere in 2014 after which in 2023 he did the 24 peaks in 48 hours within the Lake District. Walking 12 hours a day he remembers forging via lightning storms and bunking in youth hostel dormitories with full strangers.

This 12 months, Stephen is upping his already spectacular ranges of dedication to the trigger to have fun our fortieth anniversary. He will probably be becoming a member of us on our inaugural Lantern Walk to recollect Kate and honour Charlie’s life, and he will even tackle ‘Snowdonia at Sunrise’ in June.

Two weeks after that he’ll do the Cotswold Way Ultra Challenge – a 100k continuous problem that Stephen hopes to finish in 24 hours. If that wasn’t sufficient, he will even tackle the Menai Straight Swim, a 6.5km problem via a number of the most difficult tidal currents on the planet!

No plans of slowing down

Stephen has no plans for slowing down or easing up on asking his wonderful assist community to donate to Meningitis Now. He sees first-hand, in his position of Trustee, the influence that our work has and the way donations make all of it potential. Charlie’s ongoing bravery within the face of challenges, and the reminiscence of Kate, are all the rationale Stephen must hold going.

The assist Stephen receives from our fundraising staff can be a motivation: “When I’m cold, wet and tired the genuine support from the Meningitis Now team is another important aspect of my inspiration.”

We need to take the chance to say an unlimited thanks to Stephen for his a few years of devoted fundraising and his invaluable contributions in his position as Trustee.