My name is Greg Butler, 70 years old and have always been an active person. One thing I noticed was, I always felt tired and had to push myself to do my sporting stuff, so off to my GP to see why. Over the next couple of years after many blood tests to find the problem, I was sent off to a Haematologist to get lots more tests done.
While I was having all these tests, a friend had mentioned to me about Run Down Under, a smart phone or computer app. where everyone starts at Canberra and runs or walks anti clockwise around Australia for 14,080 Klm. and finally ends up in Sydney. This is all done when you are out exercising, it is monitored on a GPS watch and then down loaded from the watch to a computer which then shows you on a map of Australia where you are and heaps of other great stuff. I was always wanting to do things like this and not knowing how long I would be able to keep doing these long walks, I took the challenge and joined up. This has given me lots of time to ponder, enjoy my surroundings and stay motivated. I had given up running a few years ago because of reoccurring Achilles’ problems but had continued walking to keep fit, so off I went, leaving Canberra 22nd December 2019.
I set off on my journey and after about a year I was diagnosed with WM or Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, hard to say and rare to have. Only a few people in a million have this form of Leukemia. Due to it being so rare with not many people having Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, it ends up being one of those cancers which doesn’t attract a lot attention from Government for funding for research or development.
So I thought that maybe I could use my efforts of walking to set up a fund raiser through the Leukemia Foundation where any donations go straight to the Leukemia Foundation. These donations go towards helping with research so they can continue to look for better medications and even better still, a CURE.
I have now completed 779 days and 12,729 Klm with 1,351 Klm to go. I am getting slower as I walk our main highway but the End is in Sight.
