YOU would need a good reason to walk from Sydney to Melbourne, and Eurobodalla Easter visitor Fiona Dowdell certainly has that.
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Fiona, 53, arrived in Batemans Bay on Saturday just over two weeks into a 55-day on-foot journey to raise fund for a cure and awareness of the little-know disease Friedreich Ataxia, which has afflicted her five-year-old grandson Tristan.
The walk, titled F.A. To Go, has raised, at the time of writing, $11, 389 of its $20,000 target.
“The disease is genetic and it affects the nerves that operate Tristan’s muscles,” Fiona said.
“It is expected to eventually leave him incapacitated and will reach his heart, and then it becomes fatal.”
The disease affects roughly one in every 30,000 people and usually strikes people in their late teens.
“Tristan’s is one of the youngest-ever recorded cases,” Fiona said.
Fiona and her “crew,” whose home town in Berwick in Victoria, have met people affected by the disease on the walk.
“We met a man in Wollongong who had been diagnosed when he was 18, and he is now 45,” she said.
“We met a boy who was diagnosed when he was five, and is now 13, and has been in a wheelchair since seven.”
Fiona left the Sydney Opera House on March 14, and will walk the coastal route until she reaches Federation Square on May 7.
Fortunately she has husband Garry and mother Carol supporting her all the way with a car and caravan.
She has packed three pairs of shoes.
“The pair I’ve got on at the moment are my favourites so I’m just sticking to them,” she said.
Fiona said the walking itself wasn’t the hardest part.
“I enjoy walking; planning is the hardest part,” she said.
The walk’s Facebook page and website have spread the word and attracted donations from the likes of the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Holland and New Zealand.
Fiona has been amazed by the interest in and support for the walk.
“I have been quite touched, especially considering most people haven’t heard of the disease,” she said.
“People have given us cash, including $50 in my hand.
“I’ve been overwhelmed.
“We had two eight or nine-year-old kids riding their scooters to McDonald’s in Ulladulla stop and ask me about the walk and encourage me.”
Fiona usually hits the road about 7am and stops around lunchtime, covering about 27km each day.
