COVENTRY great-grandad Tony Cunningham has raised over £8,700 for Warwick charity Molly Olly’s after smashing his target to walk ten miles a day throughout last year in the city’s War Memorial Park.
The 73-year-old, who underwent a quadruple heart bypass a few years ago, took his final early morning walk around the park on New Year’s Eve after clocking up over 5,050 miles in 2022, almost the distance between Coventry and Phoenix.
Molly Olly’s was established following the death of Rachel and Tim Ollerenshaw’s eight-year-old daughter Molly from a rare kidney cancer.
The charity supports children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, offering emotional support as well as donating wishes, therapeutic toys and books to children and hospitals across the UK.
During his year-long mission, Tony has braved huge storms as well as some of the hottest temperatures recorded in British history, only missing seven of his daily walks due to the doctor’s advice.
Tony was in part inspired to complete the walk in memory of his late wife of 47 years Jackie, who died of cancer in 2021.
“I feel like she has been with me in spirit throughout,” he said.
“I think it has surprised a lot of people that I’ve kept it up, but several things kept me motivated.
“Most of all I didn’t want to let down the children and their families who are helped by Molly Olly’s.”
Tony added his favourite memories included meeting three mums in the park whose children have been helped by the charity, as well as bumping into two nurses at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire who helped him through his own operation five years ago.
Rachel Ollerenshaw added: “Tony is a man of his word and once he committed to doing this huge challenge, there was no way he was going to miss a day – unless he was ill.
“For most people, the very notion of getting up every single day and walking mostly the same route of around 15 miles would be overwhelming and overbearing, but Tony is an extraordinary person who is determined to make a difference.”
Visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/anthony-cunningham5 to donate to Tony.
