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#WALK1000MILES<strong>2018</strong><br />
VERY INSPIRING PERSON: FRANCIS LAWLER<br />
‘I found I was getting happier<br />
and more determined<br />
every time I came back’<br />
Stabbed in the stomach, beaten and left for dead by attackers<br />
on New Year’s Eve 1998, 48-year-old Francis Lawler has<br />
struggled with anxiety and fear of the dark ever since.<br />
Above: Walking’s power to take<br />
a pumice stone to problems is<br />
one its most remarkable features.<br />
I<br />
’M ORIGINALLY FROM<br />
County Durham where<br />
I grew up in foster care<br />
with my twin brother Patrick.<br />
I moved to Cambridge when<br />
I was 18, and it was there I was<br />
attacked as I walked back from<br />
the pub in the early hours of<br />
1999. It led to major surgery<br />
and a long stay in hospital<br />
– I was very lucky to survive.<br />
I’ve recovered well on the<br />
physical side and today I work<br />
as a <strong>supp</strong>ort worker in a day<br />
centre caring for people with<br />
learning disabilities. But the<br />
attack left me scarred mentally.<br />
For 18 years I’ve been scared of<br />
walking in the dark and being<br />
in quiet places on my own.<br />
It meant I wouldn’t go out<br />
much in winter, and if I did, it<br />
was always in company. I was<br />
overweight, fearful and down.<br />
I started my #walk1000miles<br />
challenge on January the 1st<br />
2017 after seeing the magazine<br />
because I was determined<br />
to finally face these anxieties<br />
head on. I knew it really would<br />
be a challenge <strong>no</strong>t only<br />
because I’d have to balance<br />
working life, children and<br />
“Every day it pushed<br />
me to get out of the<br />
house and even<br />
when I could feel<br />
my fears rising,<br />
overcoming them<br />
made me more and<br />
more positive.”<br />
also <strong>supp</strong>orting a disabled<br />
wife at home, but I’d have to<br />
walk on my own in the dusk<br />
and the dark.<br />
At first my family wondered<br />
what on Earth I was thinking.<br />
But as time went by they got<br />
used to me saying “I’m off out<br />
for a walk” – and I found I was<br />
getting happier and more<br />
determined every time I came<br />
back. It was just so satisfying<br />
making progress. By the end<br />
everyone was willing me to<br />
succeed – it felt like a team<br />
effort and we felt stronger<br />
and more loving.<br />
Pretty soon I was walking<br />
distances I never thought<br />
24<br />
WALK 1000 MILES <strong>2018</strong>
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