Oscar's Charity Extravaganza

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Oscar's Charity Extravaganza

Oscar is walking 250,000 steps to raise funds for the ME Association. This may not sound like much, but for a reluctant reader like Oscar is it a big ask!

Following a successful fundraising challenge in 2023, in which Oscar raised over £400 for the ME Association by walking 250k steps, Oscar has now decided to move on to his next challenge. He's taking part in a Readathon with his school - he needs to read 6 books between 25th March and 26th April 2024. He's already chosen his first 3 books, and we'll keep you updated on his progress. All money rais

ed will be split between 3 charities - Read Well, CLIC Sargent, and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity. We've decided to use PayPal as an easy way to collect funds, and all money raised will be sent via the Readathon website at the end of his challenge. Oscar and I thank you for your support in helping him raise as much money as possible.

23/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who sponsored Oscar in his Readathon. I have just made the donation to as the money came through from the PayPal fundraiser 😊

He raised £80 altogether, and is just starting his 6th book (he has until this Friday to finish it). He has done SO WELL, and we are so proud of him 🥰

This reluctant reader of ours has been drawn into the world of graphic novels and dragons, and even shared some of his school library book with me this morning!!

We started by setting 30 minute timers and all sitting together to read, and he's ended the challenge quite happily sitting on his own, reading as long as it took to reach a certain point (eg half way through the book, the end of the book etc). So we know he's gonna smash this final book before Friday 😀

I'll see if I can get him to do a review of the series he's read when he's finished it. Apparently book 4 was the best one (at least when he was at that point - maybe he's changed his mind after reading book 5 and 6!)

Anyway - please join me in congratulating Oscar on taking on another fundraising challenge and absolutely smashing it 👏

06/04/2024

Oscar completed the first graphic novel in this series, and has almost finished the second. Here's what he has to say about Wings Of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy...

I liked this book because it's cool. It has dragons. Dragons are cool. And the pictures are also cool.

(I take it he thought it was cool 😂 I asked him what his favourite part was... and he said, "one dragon killed another dragon in a really, really cool, epic way." I think that's all we're getting from him 😂).

23/03/2024

Oscar is back, with another fundraising challenge! 😃

After the success of his 250k steps for the ME Association last year, Oscar is now starting a new challenge with his school's Readathon.

He has to read 6 books between 25th March and 26th April. It may not sound like much, but for a reluctant reader like Oscar it's a big ask!

I asked around for book recs yesterday, and Oscar chose 3 graphic novels which feature dragons to get hom started. The first one arrived today ready to begin on Monday!

I've set up a fundraising page via PayPal, and all money raised will be sent at the end of the challenge to the Readathon fund. Money raised will be split between 3 charities - Read Well, CLIC SARGENT, and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.

Please consider donating if you can to help cheer him on. We'll keep you updated as he progresses.

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/931cfVEySF

05/11/2023

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Oscar started his challenge with his first walk on 4th February, and completed it with his final walk on 3rd November.

250,000 steps. 43 different walks. £444 raised for ME Association (you can still donate at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar250k - can we get him to £500?)

At the beginning of his challenge, I asked Oscar to share something about why he was doing this and what it meant to him to undertake such a big task. Here's what he said:

"I feel that being unable to recover from a condition is terrible, especially if those conditions mean that you're unable to do regular things.

"I have Autism which is a disability that causes stress in social interactions, however, I still made friends at school and I am friendly to people who help others despite my mental disability. I also have ADHD which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which means it's hard for me to concentrate on one thing, but there is also an H in ADHD which stands for hyperactive, this means it's hard to stand still.

"This is a very big challenge, but I feel like I can do it no matter what, because I'm willing to support the ME Association."

I am so incredibly proud of him, I cannot tell you. This year has been a really big one for Oscar - he completed year 6 (including SATs and a trip to France) and started year 7 at a whole new school. But even with so many changes happening in his life, requiring so much more energy than usual, he has continued to plod on and get those steps in. He is an absolute star!

Please join me in congratulating him on such an amazing achievement.

04/09/2023

It's been a long time coming, but Oscar has finally passed the 200k mark and is on the home stretch of his 250k steps challenge!

Last week he went to Yorkshire Wildlife Park with his grandparents and racked up a whopping 14,837 steps in one day 😮

Today we celebrated the final day of the Summer holidays with a walk to a (new to us) park in the village, before a fish and chip shop lunch. That added a further 3,662 steps to the total.

His tally now stands at 207,231, meaning he has completed 82% of his challenge. We started our walks in February and he has been on 36 different walks so far.

We were clear from the start that we wanted to track specific walks rather than just the steps he takes in a normal day, so that it was a real challenge. And he has done so well.

He starts secondary school tomorrow, which is a HUGE step for him, especially as he doesn't know anyone there as nobody from his primary school is going to the same one as him. But I know he's going to embrace that challenge the same way he has embraced this one - with enthusiasm and determination!

But it may be a while before we finish the final 47k steps of his challenge, as the next few weeks are likely to be a bit overwhelming for him. After all, us autistic people find change hard! But the hope is that we will have finished it before the year is out.

Thanks again for all your support so far, it has meant a lot. Now I just need to think of a suitable way to celebrate when Oscar takes those final steps - any thoughts?

17/08/2023

Long time, no see!

We've still got our eyes on the end goal of this walking challenge, but life lately has been a real whirlwind.

The end of year 6 for Oscar was pretty hectic, so we didn't really push any walks during that time. And then we've all just been enjoying a bit of time to decompress now we're in the holidays, before he starts year 7 - eek!

But we have managed a few walks and are slowly moving up towards that elusive 250k!

When we started this challenge months ago, we thought we'd do much more walking when the weather got nicer. Little did we realise that a) the Summer months would feel so overwhelming and b) it would rain for most of July and part of August!!

Anyway, here are some photos from his walk this morning with Thea. They went to our local nature reserve and saw lots of wildlife. I asked them to take plenty of photos as I was too ill to join them, and Oscar made Thea take dozens of photos of sheep 😂

We have 3,794 steps to add to the total from today, 2,213 steps to add from a walk around the village, and 6,417 from a trip on the train to Newark with Grandma. That brings his grand total up to 188,732.

Way to go Oscar!

02/07/2023

Today we went exploring a nature reserve 4 miles out of our village, which we've never been to as a family before (Thea and I went to scope it out a couple of weeks ago).

Oscar loved seeing all the butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and pond skaters. We even came across some sheep down by the river!

We also sat down on a mooring spot, and looked at bulrushes up close ☺️ It was a wonderful adventure, even if a nettle did get Oscar on the way back 😔

He added 3,652 steps to his total today. He also added 5,500 steps on his school trip to London earlier this week (we forgot to get the exact amount before his watched renewed for the day and it didn't update to his phone for some reason, but he knew it was something over 5,500). And 3,418 steps the week before that on another trip to the village churchyard.

So his current overall total is 176,308. We are getting ever closer to 200k and that final stretch to reach his 250k.

21/05/2023

Oscar has been on two walks this week - one to a graveyard we've never explored before on the way to another village, and one to our favourite spot in our village!

Oscar LOVES walking around, looking at all the details on the gravestones. And it was such a gorgeous day today too. We even spotted a big digger on the way home!

His walks this week added 3,643 and 3,216 steps to his total, taking him up to 163,738 steps overall. I asked him if he thought we could hit 250,000 steps before the Summer holidays start and he said he thinks he can. Fingers crossed 🤞

14/05/2023

It's been a while since we updated you, and for that I apologise!

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic with one thing or another, and we simply haven't been able to go on any walks for a while.

Between health issues for all of us (including Oscar, who had a virus that kept him off school for a week and has now developed a chest infection too) and SATs Week, we just haven't had the energy to do anything beyond get through each day.

Such is life, hey? But we will be getting back to our walks as soon as Oscar is feeling better and no longer trying to cough his lungs up!

20/04/2023

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy, between the school holidays and health things, so I apologise for taking so long to share an update on Oscar's walks.

Over the Easter holidays Oscar added a whopping 40,669 steps to his tally, taking the overall total to 148,622 steps. This means he has smashed his way past the halfway mark, just in time for the weather brightening up for the second half of his challenge 😊

Amazingly, 30k of those steps were achieved in just 2 days, when Oscar was at the holiday club at school! I'm not sure exactly what he did to rack up so many steps, but he was definitely happy for some chill out days after that 😂

We're hoping to get back into a more regular routine with weekend walks again, and I'll do my best to keep everyone updated. Thanks again for all your support so far!

02/04/2023

Grandad came over to help sort out our garden today, so Grandma came with him and she and Oscar went for a walk around the village.

They racked up an impressive 5,484 steps to add to the tally, and stopped off at the park for a play too ☺️

It's the start of the Easter holidays here, and we hope to get plenty of steps in over the next couple of weeks...

26/03/2023

Oscar just hit a MAJOR milestone - 100K steps!! Well done Oscar 👏

He wore his watch 3 times this week - two days at school (with walks back to Grandma's house), and then one around the village with Thea today.

Those three walks added 7,414, 7,103, and 4,511 steps to his tally, taking the grand total so far to 102,469 steps!

The next big milestone will be the halfway mark at 125k - how many more walks do you think that will take? It has taken 19 separate walks to get this far.

Thank you to everyone who has followed his journey so far, donated to his fundraiser, and cheered him along the way. We appreciate all of you.

If you'd like to donate, the link is in the bio.

19/03/2023

Oscar and I walked to the village church today whilst Thea was out. He didn't want to wear his watch to count steps though, because he wanted to play Pokémon Go and last time we did that his watch didn't pick up all his steps as he wasn't moving his arm when walking.

As he's just had a nasty cold that set off his Asthma, and he's also 11 and deserves to just have fun and not make every walk a fundraising one, I followed his lead and we just enjoyed being out in the sunshine together.

We'll be back to counting steps and adding to his total again soon, now he's recovering from his cold!

26/02/2023

Another 3,312 steps added to the total today!

We walked down to the village church again, saw the daffodils, and Oscar did several laps around the churchyard whilst Thea and I had a little rest 😆

He is very committed to getting in as many steps as he can, and we are so proud of him 😍

We almost had a disaster though, as I forgot to put his watch on and Thea had to run back to the house to fetch it. Thankfully we hadn't gone too far - just across the road - before I remembered 🙈

25/02/2023

We had to take a break from walks this past week, as another virus hit our family 😔 But Oscar was out again today, exploring another part of our village.

We weren't sure if the weather would make a walk impossible, as it hailed this morning and was super overcast this afternoon. But it didn't stop this intrepid explorer 😃

He and Thea were able to go off the beaten track without me in my wheelchair. They walked beside muddy fields, exploring a part of The Viking Way 🚶‍♂️

Oscar enjoyed posing for several photos. See if you can spot the little dot of bright orange that is him in the distance in the final photo 😉

Today's walk adds a further 5,145 steps to his tally, taking his total up to 60,344 💪

18/02/2023

We took a couple of days off from walking, as Oscar was ready for a break after so many big walks in quick succession.

But we were back on the trail again today, and headed down to the village church. We asked him which route he wanted to take, and he chose the longest one "for more steps".

And then when we got to the church, he insisted on walking up and down this path multiple times to increase his step count even further. He's taking this challenge very seriously!

Total steps when we got home today was 4,332. Way to go Oscar!

15/02/2023

Oscar hit the 50k mark today, by adding a further 5,902 steps to his total (50,867).

We walked along to the neighbouring village again, and this time he didn't hold onto my wheelchair on the way so his watch counted every step.

In typical Shortman family style, I was cold and all bundled up and Oscar was not 😂

We wanted to hit 50k by the end of Half Term and we're only half way through it. Oscar is steaming through this challenge and we couldn't be prouder.

He even walked "laps" around the bench we stopped at before our return journey to increase his step count!

14/02/2023

Oscar went for another walk with Grandma and Grandad today, finding lots of trees he liked (one had a bit that looks like an Elephant's face and trunk), climbing on tree stumps, and feeding the wildlife.

Apparently they met a lovely German man on their walk who gave Oscar bits to feed the ducks and squirrels with, and he enjoyed having a conversation with him 🥰

We then picked him up and took him into town for a haircut, so he kept his watch on, and ended up with a grand total today of 9010 steps!!

13/02/2023

Grandma and Grandad took Oscar to a local wood today, and he added 6,265 steps to his total 😃 It looks like he had a lot of fun too ☺️

This brings his overall tally so far to 35,955 🚶‍♂️ (I forgot to tell you all that on Saturday Oscar was tired from the end of term and didn't want to go for a walk, so just did a few laps around the garden, banking 222 more steps).

We're hoping he might hit 50,000 by the end of Half Term, which will mark 1/5 of his overall target within 2 weeks. He's doing so well, and we're so proud of him!

Don't forget you can still sponsor him via Just Giving - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar250k.

12/02/2023

Another 4,736 steps added to the tally. We walked around a different route today, and Oscar made sure to add in as many steps as possible by walking around this little cul-de-sac rather than just crossing the road with us ☺️

10/02/2023

It's the end of week 1 and Oscar's total tally so far is 24,732 steps! So he's almost 1/10 of the way.

This was from 4 days out of the 7:

1. Walk around the village - 4,764
2. Walk to neighbouring village - 3,774
3. Around school & to Grandma's - 8,682
4. Around school - 7,512

We hadn't been counting school days as we didn't think he would do much on them.

But his teacher said he'd told Oscar that 4 circuits of the playground is a mile, and so Oscar has been walking around at playtime to bank more steps. He's such a star 🤩

It's Half Term next week, so we're planning on getting as many walks in as we can. And we'll keep you updated as much as possible.

Please keep sharing the details of this challenge with others if you can. Our current total is £362, 144% of our initial target, which is more than we could have hoped for. But every penny counts for and we'd love to see it rise even higher!

(Incidentally if we suddenly disappear please bear with us. I just had to reactivate this account as insta had mistakenly deactivated it. We hope that doesn't happen again!)

09/02/2023

Normally Oscar gets a lift to school, as we live in a village outside of the city and it's too far to walk. But tonight he is having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandad's so got to walk home.

As a result we decided to pop his watch on this morning, so he could count up how many steps he took around school and on the way home. It turns out it was 8,682!! 😲

Excuse his very tired face in the second photo, he's usually more than ready to decompress by the end of the school day 😉 He also always wears his coat like a cape 😂

We've got several walks planned for next week over Half Term, so look out for more updates then!

05/02/2023

We went on our second walk today ☺️ Oscar walked all the way to the neighbouring village and back, which Google tells me is 2.2 miles from our bungalow. We found a bench for him to have a little rest on before we turned back!

Unfortunately he was holding onto the back of my wheelchair for most of the journey there, and we realised it wasn't counting up all his steps properly as his arm wasn't moving as much.

It only counted around 1,000 steps there, but was 3,774 steps by the time we got home again, so I'm guessing we were about 1,500 steps short on our count.

Oscar is determined to only stick to what his watch says though, so we added 3,774 to our tally today!

It was a lovely sunny day, as you can see, and we walked by some fields and said hello to a couple of runners and a lady picking up litter (Oscar gave her a thumbs up 👍).

He's at school tomorrow so we might not get any more walks in until next weekend, but then it's Half Term so hopefully he can bank lots of steps then!

Thank you once again to everyone who has followed, commented, shared, or donated. Oscar smashed his £250 fundraising target within 24 hours 😲 and he's now gone past the £300 mark!

04/02/2023

Thank you to everyone for following, sharing, and donating so far 🥰 Oscar is already at 70% of his fundraising target! 😲

It was the first thing he asked about this morning, and he's already banked his first 4,764 steps on a walk around the village with a stop off at thr play park ☺️

03/02/2023

The challenge: Oscar is going to walk 250,000 steps to raise funds for the ME Association. He's going to track his steps over the weeks and months it takes for him to hit that goal, and we'll keep everyone updated on how he's doing along the way.

The idea for this came from another person with ME, Alison Woodland, who walked 250,000 steps in 2016. I am nowhere near able to do such a challenge myself, so Oscar has decided to do it for me! I shall be joining him on as many of the walks as I can in Bertha, my wheelchair.

We haven't set a deadline for hitting the 250,000 steps, we're just going to keep going on walks until he hits the target!

Please consider following Oscar during his challenge, and sponsoring him if you can. Every little helps.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar250k

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