Gamlingay grandmother to walk 500 miles to fund life-changing surgery in poor countries

A grandmother of six from Gamlingay is set to walk 500 miles to help bring life-changing surgery to the world’s poorest nations.

In late March, adventurous villager Dawn Martin will be celebrating her 69th birthday just days after she starts walking the full length of the Camino de Santiago from France to Spain.

The ancient pilgrim route, also known as the Santiago de Compostela, will take her around six weeks to walk and ends at the cathedral of the same name in northern Spain, where the remains of St James the Apostle are said to be.

Dawn said: “I love walking but I have never done any fundraising on walks before.

"However, I realised there is such a great need and I wanted to help, so I decided to do this to raise money for Mercy Ships.”

The mother-of-three has spent most of her working life in medical and caring settings with the NHS, including being a physical therapy technical instructor at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, and then a discharge co-ordinator at Lister Hospital for Age UK Hertfordshire.

Before retiring she was head of health and wellbeing, covering all Herfordshire hospitals.

Through her line of work, Dawn heard about the charity, which uses hospital ships to deliver free, world class healthcare services - including surgery and training - to strengthen and support countries in the developing world.

She said: “It just struck me when I heard about Mercy Ships that I wanted to do something because what they do really makes a difference.

"I know, from going to Mozambique a few years ago, the terrible problems people have with accessing healthcare. We are so lucky here.”

Dawn has previous experience of the Camino, having walked portions of it before, but she has never walked it all in one go.

Fortunately, a previous bad experience on the Camino - she got lost with both her daughters, ended up dehydrated, and spent the night in a shed - has not put her off.

Dawn said: “I learnt a lot from that but I also know there is no experience like it.

"I have amazing memories of meeting people from Argentina, Germany, France; guitars playing, everyone singing, food and wine! Experiences you can never plan.

"I met people from all over the world with their stories and all different reasons for doing the Camino.”

Dawn believes that doing yoga and looking after horses are helping her keep up her fitness but knowing how hard it is from prior experience, she plans to make one small concession.

She added: “On particularly hard walking days I will send on my backpack ahead to the next stop or municipal Albergues, to make it a little easier.”

To sponsor Dawn on her 500-mile walk visit http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Dawn-Martin12