You could have heard a pin drop as Strictly Come Dancing winner Ore Oduba walked into the hanger on the Army parade ground.
Major Chris Brannigan was giving a briefing at the barracks near Winchester, before being interrupted. Totally stunned, he turned to see his wife and three children, alongside TV presenter, Ore.
His eight-year-old daughter Hasti, gently pulled a statue from her black backpack and presented her shocked dad with the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award for the ITV Fundraiser of the Year.
Grinning broadly, she told her dad: “I think you’ve done a good job.”
By walking 700 miles from Land’s End to Edinburgh over 35 days, wearing no shoes and carrying 25kg of kit, including the tent he would sleep in every night, Chris raised a huge amount of money.
Dubbed the ‘Barefoot Soldier’, the dad set out to raise £50,000 but in total collected more than £500,000.
Halfway through his walk, he was joined by Hasti as they dropped off a petition at Downing Street, which asked for more support for children with rare diseases.
His herculean effort has raised funds for gene therapy which will hopefully change Hasti’s life. His daughter has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) which there is currently no cure nor treatment for.
Alongside other fundraisers, the Hope for Hasti Just Giving page has raised more than £656,000.
Hasti has learning difficulties and has to have different therapies and take medication and it can get worse. The family found out that there is a gene therapy that might help but it is very expensive.
Chris, 40, said he was honoured to receive the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award, in partnership with TSB.
He added: “I had no idea this was going to happen and had no idea I would win. It’s an amazing honour and I’m really pleased.
“When I saw my wife and kids, who should have been at school, I wondered what was going on. I am blown away.”
Smiling broadly, he said: “This is just wonderful. My colleagues lured me here under the guise of doing a job today. They did a great job in deceiving me. I had no idea that this could happen.
“I hope it will help us highlight the story of children with rare diseases in the UK. We’ve had to fight so hard to get this far and there’s lots of families that are struggling in exactly the same position and want to give them hope.
“We are still fundraising. We’re trying to raise another £2million for the Hope for Hasti fundraising campaign. Once we’ve created this first ever gene therapy for CdLS, we then need to fund the clinical trials where we give it to kids that actually need it.”
Chris said that every year he watches Pride of Britain and he is stunned by the variety of fundraising efforts all across the country.
He explained: "Pride of Britain is simply amazing. I remember watching it last year and seeing some of the children receiving their awards and I think they are just incredible people, who faced with really difficult challenges still manage to stay positive and do amazing things. We are so lucky to live in a country where people really are willing to help eachother and are so selfless.”
He says the most challenging part was the “mental” side of the trek and that he kept walking despite having open wounds on his feet and infections as well as dealing with injury and the weather.
Chris and his Iranian wife Hengameh, 41, from West Byfleet, Surrey, also have two boys – Amir, 12, and Navid, ten.
“It was very stressful when he was on the walk. I was very worried about him,” explained Hengameh.
“Some days he really struggled. I would do all the backup and organising for him, answering all the messages that would come through.
"He had a one man tent then after the first week, people would come and offer him a place to stay. Sometimes he would stay on Army camps. It was extremely worrying for him.
“There was one day when I contacted him and he was lying in a ditch somewhere. I thought he would not be able to carry on.
"Then later on, someone put a picture of him on social media, running with a group of guys and that was really powerful and I just started crying.
"I knew then he was okay and would carry on. The days he had company I was able to relax a lot more as I knew that it was enough to keep him going mentally.
“I never thought he would win this award. It’s such an honour. I’m absolutely proud of him. he really deserved this. He worked really hard for it.”
Ore said he was delighted to have presented Chris with the award.
He added: “I have so much respect for him, his family and everyone else who helped get him over the line. He’s a phenomenon.
“Especially this year with the pandemic, more than ever, it’s right that we celebrate the heroes in our communities and celebrate their inspirational stories.”
- Don’t miss the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards 2020, in partnership with TSB, on Sunday, 9pm, ITV.
