Special reason for man’s 52-hour Movember walk after sudden death of his mum

A Wirral man is about to embark on a marathon 52-hour fundraising Movember walk in memory of his mum, a former sister at Clatterbridge hospital.

Jake Keogh set himself the challenge to complete the walk by 5.15pm on Remembrance Sunday, seven years since his mum died suddenly of an aneurism.

Ventilation engineer Jake, who lives in Wallasey, chose 52 hours because Karen was just 52 when she died.

Before he even sets off, the 29-year-old has already raised more than £3,000 for Movember, supporting men’s mental health, suicide prevention, prostate, and testicular cancer.

His brother Zacc says the family are all behind Jake, not only in raising money for charity but also to do something special in honour of their much-loved and missed mum.

He explains:

“We lost our mum very suddenly on November 11 in 2018. She’d been getting ready to go out and it was Jake, who was living at home at the time, who found her at 5.15pm.

“He decided to do a 52-hour walk because that’s the age she died, 52, and he’s going to be finishing on Remembrance Day at 5.15pm, the time seven years ago that he found her. 

“Mum was very very special. She worked at Arrowe Park for years then moved to Clatterbridge where she was the sister on N1. There’s still a picture of her on the ward in memory of her.

“All the nurses stood in a huge guard of honour for her in the rain at her funeral, it was a really sad but special day and just showed how much she meant to everyone.”

Jake is the youngest of three brothers, with Karl the eldest and Zacc in the middle, and a stepsister Hayley Andrews.

He will set off at 1.15pm on Friday, walking around Wirral, joined by family and friends along the way as he battles sleep deprivation and sore feet.

“It’s one thing doing a walk but not sleeping for 52 hours is hard,” says Zacc. “But he’s done his research and found out what you need to do, the amount of rest you need and how often, and the amount of sugar to eat.

“He’s also spoken to people who’ve done long-distance runs so he knows what to expect. He’s been sponsored by local businesses so he’ll be going to them along the route and having photos with them, then ploughing on through the night. 

“I’m going to be doing the night shifts with him too, on Friday and Saturday. The beauty of it being local is there are so many people around and we can get to him when we need to.

“His friends are jumping on with him during the day and at night and I think the adrenaline will see him through.

“I think what he’s doing is incredible, he’s really strong-minded and determined to do it and we’ll do what we need to do, we’re not going to let him fail.”

You can support Jake’s 52-hour walk for Movember here.

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