A group of 11 midwives will walk 67 miles non-stop with no sleep to raise money for vital new equipment for their maternity unit.
The group, known as One More Push, from St Helier Hospital in Sutton, will take part in the challenge on the Isle of Wight, starting this morning to coincide with International Day of the Midwife.
After the walk, midwife Hollie Williams will also shave her head as an extra way to boost funds and will donate her hair to children’s cancer charity Little Princess Trust.
Holly said: “It actually came about at work, on a break in the staff room with a couple of colleagues and we were talking about fundraising, and we talked about the typical things like cake sales.
“Then it came out of my mouth and I said it out loud and then I remember texting our group page like ‘guys, I’ve just decided to shave all my hair off’.
“It seems to have worked.”
The idea of the walk was hatched by Alison Hide, a longstanding member of maternity unit, who wanted to do something memorable to celebrate her 60th birthday, and it snowballed.
Hollie’s colleague Mary added: “It’s equipment and it’s to re-design our triage room as well.
“The triage room is the first thing that women see when they come into the labour ward, and it’s a nice room, but we want to make it nicer.
“With that kind of money, we’re going to be able to do an awful lot to it.
“It’s all to improve patient experience.”
“It was her thought to do something special for herself but has in turn bonded 11 people together in a way that we never thought would happen.”
One more Push have so far raised over £5,000 and are aiming to reach £10,000.
