One of our inspirational fundraisers, Katie Dowson recently completed an epic fundraising challenge in memory of her dad, Warren, who sadly died from motor neurone disease (MND) in 2018.

Warren would have celebrated his 75th birthday this year, so, Katie decided she wanted to pay a special tribute to him, by personalising her ‘This Girl CANglesey’ challenge around the number 75. 

Katie took on a 130 miles stretch of the Anglesey section of the Wales Coast Path in just 75 hours, a distance which would ordinarily take a whole week to complete.

With high tides and diversions, she ended up covering 138 miles, but still achieved her goal, walking an impressive 295,488 steps in 44 hours 19 minutes.

This isn’t Katie’s first challenge, she has already raised tens of thousands for MND charities in her dad’s name. From running half, full and ultra marathons, to climbing his favourite peak, Ingleborough, and a personalised 10-day Northern Pilgrimage walking challenge - she’s a challenge pro!

Thanks to her extraordinary efforts, Katie’s latest challenge has raised over £2,600 for our appeal to build the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital.

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Katie Dowson: 7 Stories of MND

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Anglesey is a special place to Katie and her family. One of her favourite childhood photos of her and her dad was taken at Anglesey Sea Zoo, so she was very pleased to pass by the zoo during day three of her challenge!

Katie told us what spurred her on to complete the challenge:

“My Dad faced his MND diagnosis with such a strong mentality. I look back at some of the things he did now completely in awe of his grit and determination, and I wanted my challenge to reflect his warrior spirit. I wanted it to be hard, but in reality, I pushed myself mentally and physically beyond anything I could ever have imagined. He’d have done exactly the same for me!

“Every single message of support, phone call, and donation I received along the way was a boost, and pushed me on. I am so proud to support this important campaign, knowing the centre will make such a difference to families like mine.”

Thanks to generous supporters like you, we have now raised over £5.8 million of our £6.8 million target to make Rob Burrow's dream of a specialist centre in Leeds a reality. With planning permission granted by Leeds City Council earlier this month, construction work is due to start on site at Seacroft Hospital over the coming weeks. 

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Rob Burrow Centre for MND blog: I&G appointed to build the centre

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Paul Watkins, Director of Fundraising at Leeds Hospitals Charity told us:

“Katie has been an incredible supporter of our appeal since it first launched in 2021, from bravely sharing the heartbreaking story of losing her dad through our 7 Stories of MND campaign, to taking on challenges of an epic scale to fundraise.

“All of us at Leeds Hospitals Charity have been amazed by Katie’s determination and positivity. It’s thanks to inspirational people like her, that we’re getting even closer to crossing the finish line of our appeal, creating a bespoke centre for people living with MND and their loved ones.”

Donate to Katie's fundraising page