Danny McManus, from Leeds, has pulled together a team of trekkers to take on a huge task to raise money for their friend and colleague Henry Erskine.
Henry Erskine is an Engineer based out of Castleford who is fighting stage 4 Leiomyosarcoma, a form of cancer that falls under the umbrella of Sarcoma and occurs in soft tissue.
Henry has been part of the Northern Powergrid family for over 13 years and needs support to raise funds for treatment outside of the NHS.
The 35-year-old, who met Henry almost a decade ago, is embarking on a 127 mile walk from Leeds to Liverpool in December alongside five of his friends to help raise money.
Danny and his team are expected to walk over 20 miles a day, in only six hours of daylight, in potentially horrible weather conditions.
Danny said “I’ve known Henry for about a decade, we met at work and became friends quickly. We knew Henry was poorly, but we thought he was in remission, so when we were told there was nothing left treatment wise the NHS could do, we knew we had to help.
“We’ve done lots of different things the help fundraising, including football cards, and Movember but we needed something big to really get people’s attention.
“This walk was something I was going to do years ago but it didn’t pan out so I thought why not do it now, it’s the best time to help Henry but it’s the worst time for the weather.
“This is completely out of my comfort zone but it’s a flat walk, although it’s a lot of miles each day I know we can do it.
“The six of us have been out walking together for training and I’ve been out with my border collie just so it wasn’t a shock to the system.
“I even took a week off work to make sure I could get the miles in before the day arrives, but as luck would have it, we were hit with a sickness bug so couldn’t get out.”
Danny McManus, Dan McKernan, cousins Rich and Adam Cracknell, Matt Dixon, and Joe Smith set off on their 127.5 mile walk from Leeds to Liverpool over a week starting on 2 December.
They will be joined by Paul Sutton and Kev Pearse in a support van and are walking over 20 miles a day stopping off at Silsden, Barnoldswick, Church near Accrington, Red Rock near Worthington, Pinfold just outside of Ormskirk and finally day six to Liverpool all to raise money.
Henry’s illness started with a little cough and when further investigation was carried out, they found Henry had a 15cm sized tumour in his left lung.
Henry had his lung removed and 30 sessions of radiotherapy as a preventative treatment but still having to have X-rays and CT scans once a year.
In July 2023, Henry had a CT scan which found that the cancer had reoccurred and spread to five locations.
Unfortunately, Henry’s medical team have exhausted all options for treatment on the NHS, they are looking further afield for treatment that could save his life.
Henry and his wife Lucy are expecting twins in March 2025, their first children, so his friends and colleagues are doing everything they can to raise money for essential treatment.
You can donate to the incredible hundred-mile hike for Henry via this go fund me link.
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