Parkes woman Anne Marie Randell is preparing to walk 300 kilometres from Parkes to Canberra for a cause close to her heart.
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This will be the second time Anne Marie has done the trek.
She walked to Canberra in May of 2016 to raise money and awareness for brain cancer after losing her cousin, Annie Lymbery, to the disease.
Annie’s daughter, Caitlin Lymbery, and partner, Stewart Pafield, accompanied her last time and have committed to supporting her again this year.
Anne Marie said Annie was 62 when she died from brain cancer.
“She was diagnosed with stage four melanoma tumors on her brain in June 2015 and she died in the November,” Anne Marie said.
“I was very close to Annie and I was moved to show my support to others suffering brain cancer, along with their loved ones, by raising vital funds.
“Annie worked at Parliament House driving politicians around, that’s why I decided to end the walk there.”
Anne Marie will leave Parkes on Monday, April 23 and expects to arrive at Parliament House on Saturday, May 5, weather permitting.
Along with Caitlin and Stewart, Parkes woman Karen White and Simone Sly from Cowra will also walk part of the way with Anne Marie.
They will have two support vehicles for the duration of the trip including a Winnebago motorhome belonging to family friend Barry Lister from Muswellbrook, who is making a special trip down for the walk.
“My partner, Max Short, will drive the Winnebago,” Anne Marie said.
“It really is great to have somewhere sheltered to eat our meals and the convenience of a toilet with us on the road,” she said.
“It’s also great to hang my banner on so everyone who passes us can see what we are all about.”
The Cancer Council supplied Anne Marie, who is the Brain Cancer Ambassador Central West, with her very own Walk For A Cure banner to help her get the message out.
“They are awesome people to work with,” she said.
“I intend to do the walk every two years, and the years I don’t walk I fundraise in other ways.”
Anne Marie and her supporters have raised $7,700 so far from online donations, barbecues and chocolate sales.
In 2016 she raised $7000 online a further $4000 offline.
She has been training hard by walking from seven to nine kilometres a day.
The trip will take her through various towns including Eugowra, Canowindra, Cowra, Koorawatha, Murringo, Boorowa, Rye Park and Yass before she takes the Dog Trap Road to Canberra.
“We’ll be walking on back roads and farmer’s tracks from Yass because we are not allowed to walk on the Barton Highway,” Anne Marie said.
Donations can be made at www.doitforcancer.com.au/fundraisers/Anne-MarieRandell
