I nearly didn’t post tonight. I have the most horrifically painful throat I have ever experienced. It’s so bad I count the minutes till I can next take paracetamol, or Ibruprofen. I’m living on Strepsils, throat spray and water with honey, and most annoyingly of all, my doctor says it’s likely my op will be postponed because of it.

I am soooo fed up.

But then I popped over to Cami’s, and read through the fit friends (of which I am a proud member) and came across Dan, and this post, and it made me cry, but it kind of put my troubles in perspective. He said it was ok to copy and paste, and as I feel so sick it is hard to be sitting up, I will do that.

Please read it, it is so moving and so important…

Dan says:
As many of you already know, this July I will be walking the the 78 mile long Dales Way footpath. Yes, 78 miles. In six days. And what’s more it was my own idea. Many are predicting it will be the end of me.

I am doing the walk in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity set up by our close friends Neil and Rachel in memorial of their son Joseph. In April of 2005 three year old Joseph died suddenly in his sleep. Here is Rachel talking about it in the comments section of this blog:

“Hi, this is Joseph’s mummy here. First Dan, I’d like to say a big thank you for what you’re planning on doing. When Neil sent me the link yesterday I was in tears. The bit about coming home to Joseph’s toys as we left them…well, I can’t describe the pain. And it’s still with us. We miss Joseph every day. He was our first child, he was a little smasher, and he turned Neil and I into - hopefully - better people because of who he was. We will always be proud to be his parents.

In answer to your question Whit, Joseph died from streptococcal pneumonia. It’s very rare and it took him, although suddenly, very peacefully. When I went in to him in the morning it was obvious from his posture that he’d just gone into a deeper and deeper sleep and never knew anything about it. This too is what all the medical personnel associated with him told us. There are not many (if any) consolations when you lose a child, but at least he didn’t suffer. And as a parent, it’s one of the things you want most for your child isn’t it?

So Dan, and everyone who’s going to join you - good luck and thank you. _{”
From the comments section on A Prelude to an Announcement. October 22, 2007}

The Joseph Salmon Trust supports parents who have lost a child by providing financial assistance to those who need it most. This may be to help with funeral costs or to allow the self employed a break from work while they come to terms with their loss. Grieving families have enough to deal with without worries about where they will find the money to say goodbye to their child or pay the next electricity bill. Nothing we can do can make their situation better, but we can do something to stop it getting worse.

And this is where you come in. Today marks the official start of the fundraising of the walk and I’m looking for donations. Any amount, no matter how small will go towards making a big difference to somebody in the darkest hours of their torment. When you donate you will receive (if you want one) a link on the roll of honor both here and on the Dales Walk blog. You also get the right to place one of these magnificent badges (designed by the delightful Mr Oli Walker) on your website or blog. You can either right click and save the picture from here, or I can email you the html code to insert into your blog.

In addition, if you could find the time to write own short post about the walk, or just copy and paste this one and put it on your blog, I would be eternally grateful. The more promotion the event gets the more money we are likely to raise.

Me again…

It’s really easy to donate. Just go to Dan’s blog and click on the donation button, or email him at dghughes28@yahoo.co.uk

I did it through paypal, but if you can’t afford to donate, just a mention on your blog will help bring in the pennies and would be greatly appreciated by all those involved.