A farmer who lost his best friend, sister and dog in the space of a year has taken on a mammoth charity challenge in their honour.
Leo Deen was struggling to come to terms with recent family bereavements, and decided to walk a mammoth trek from Congleton, in Cheshire, to Glasgow, Scotland while pushing a garden wheelbarrow.
The 57-year-old was devastated when his best friend, Joey Henshaw, passed away in January, which was followed by the death of his border collie, Rollo, just weeks later.
The farmer said: “Joey was like a brother to me and it was really upsetting when he passed away. Then Rollo died a few weeks later. Rollo was my best soul mate, he was as sweet as a nut.”
The white and tan collie lived with Leo on his Timbersbrook farm for three years, but began rapidly losing weight when he was diagnosed with cancer, dying just weeks later.
But when Leo’s sister, Lea Wright, died five weeks ago, he needed to do something to take his mind off the losses he’d endured over the last year.
He said: “I didn’t believe that Lea died - she was only 18 months older than me.
“I needed to get closure, and even though I’d seen the coffin I didn’t believe she was dead. I needed something to do so I decided I was going to walk to Glasgow.”
Leo underwent three weeks of training, borrowing a friend’s Rhodesian ridgeback to help him head out on longer walks, including from Timbersbrook to Macclesfield, and to Stoke and back.
Having completed the 233 mile journey in six days, raising over £2,000 for Cheshire East Hospice and various cancer charities, Leo described the gruelling charity walk as the ‘best thing I ever did’.
He walked almost none-stop, travelling on only two or three hours of sleep a night, walking with an illuminated wheelbarrow collecting donations from people he met along the way.
His friend Trevor McKay acted as a support driver, following along in a Hyundai to make sure he was okay along the way.
Leo added: “We stopped off at lots of places along the way, and not a single person charged me for food or a drink.
“One place we went, the landlady was due to have an operation for cancer in two weeks - in another, their sister had been given two weeks to live. You could see just how many people’s lives have been affected by cancer.”
And on arriving in Lanark, Scotland, with another eight hours of walking to go, Leo came across a fish and chip shop named after his beloved pet.
So naturally, he had to stop and snap a photo of Rollo’s Fish and Chips, who then gave him a free chippy lunch to keep him going on his journey.
Leo started his trip on November 8, and arrived in Glasgow six days later on November 14, after COP26 conferences had finished.
He said: “Online it says you can do it in three days and two hours on no sleep, but I managed to do it in six on minimal sleep. But I have got blisters on top of blisters on my feet and had to go to A&E when I got back.
“The hardest part was pushing the wheelbarrow around the country lanes, but I taped a photo of Joey, Lea and Rollo on the top of the wheelbarrow and I just kept looking at them and it really kept me going. My sister would have said I was daft, a lot of people have said the same, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
In a letter to Leo, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Councillor Phillip Braat commended him on his journey.
He said: “What an inspiring journey you have made, setting yourselves such a challenge and succeeding.
“You may have seen in the media that many people from across the world journeyed to Glasgow for COP26, at this time, in a variety of ways. From what I hear of your own journey, it has been made for very personal reasons.”
