Marc's Walk returns to raise funds for services for terminally ill children

Saturday 04 August 2018

Orange t-shirts and fancy dress at the ready! 'Marc's Walk' is returning tomorrow morning to raise funds for Jersey Hospice Care's services for terminally ill children and their families, due to launch this Autumn.

The walk was created in 2011 by Willy Nieuwburg to raise money for local children’s charities after his son, Marc, a popular Victoria College student, died from bone cancer at just 19.

Willy says that at only 17, Marc noticed a bump on his ankle but, being a teenager, thought nothing on it and put it down to sports. The bump grew bigger and bigger, and Marc was eventually diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a very aggressive form of bone cancer. He sadly died two and half years later, in 2006, at just 19. 

Two years after his death, Willy, a keen walker and a regular participant in the ITEX Walk, organised his first walk to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Willy was hoping to raise £5,000, but the charity walk brought in a total of £28,000. The success encouraged Willy to organise more walks, but on the tenth anniversary of Marc’s death in 2016, Willy decided to stop.

Pictured: Marc died of bone cancer in 2006 at the age of 19.

He explained: "This will be my eighth walk and so far £105,000 has been raised mainly for Teenage Cancer Trust, CLIC Sargent, with smaller amounts going to the Antoine Trust, the Hospital’s children’s ward and Mont à L’Abbé school.

"In 2016, I promised never to do another walk again as it became too big for me to organise by myself. Last year, I did a smaller one just for the hard core of Marc's Walk followers. I read that Jersey Hospice Care was planning a new facility offering specialist care for local children. Some of you may remember that the original idea for Marc’s Walk was to raise money for a specialist cancer unit for teenagers in Southampton’s General Hospital. Well, this is similar and inspires me the same way."

Tomorrow's walk will be the first of three walks Willy is planning to organise for Jersey Hospice and he hopes to raise £15,000 from each one. 

Pictured: Willy is bringing back Marc's Walk to raise funds for a dedicated children's service at Jersey Hospice.

Marina Brockbank, Community Events Co-ordinator from Jersey Hospice Care, said: "It’s fantastic that Willy is bringing back his popular Marc’s Walk to raise money for Jersey Hospice Care. It is well-known for being a colourful and entertaining walk, with a sea of orange t-shirts, fancy dress and accessories a common sight; a tribute to Marc’s Dutch heritage. Anyone who has taken part before is encouraged to wear one of their old orange t-shirts again.

"The money raised will support children and young people with a life limiting condition and their families. We are already caring for families through our Emotional Support service and will be extending our services to include respite and outreach services this autumn."

The Hospice team offered to take care of the online registrations and t-shirts, which Willy described as a nightmare to organise. This left Willy with the important task of designing the route for the walk. "This year’s route is one of my best and 35% is footpaths," he promised. "I create a new route every year which always takes people on country lanes and obscure footpaths.

"On previous occasions, many local walkers commented that I took them to areas of Jersey they didn’t know existed, and this is what the walk is all about: a Dutchman taking locals to see their island! This year, I have taken bits from all the previous routes and combined them."

Pictured: Willy likes to take participants off the beaten track and to add quirky touches.