A Thank You video from Rhys Abernethy!

Hi All,

My 7 year old son Rhys did his sixteen and a half mile walk for “Help for Heroes” last Sunday! The background to all of this can be found here: http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/news/rhys-abernethy-iains-7-year-old-son-would-your-help-help-heroes

The essentials are that after seeing a documentary on TV, Rhys had set himself the goal of raising £1000 for injured soldiers before he turned eight. He did a sponsored swim (over 70 lengths of the pool) and entered the sea on New Year’s day (it was freezing!). He then decided that he would walk from our home to his maternal grandparents’ home. The two towns are fourteen miles apart, but from door to door we measured the distance to be just over sixteen and a half miles; which is a long way for little legs!

Rhys asked me if I could ask my “karate friends” for their help so I put out a request for sponsorship via this website … the response was amazing! You were all so incredibly generous that Rhys not only met his target, he doubled it!

The latest total can be found here: http://www.bmycharity.com/rhysabernethy

I really appreciate the support of all those who donated, and all those who voiced their support. You made a young boy very happy, you helped teach him that working toward a goal can manifest results, and your money has gone to a very worthwhile cause. Thank you!

Rhys thought it would be a good idea to film bits of the walk so he could say thanks and so you could see what he did. Edited highlights are below! It was filmed using my mobile phone but I think it’s came out OK.

The beret Rhys is wearing was a gift from Michael Rosenbabum. It was one of Michael’s berets from his time in the US military and it has rarely been off Rhys’s head since he got it!

I feel I should also warn you that Rhys utters a mild swear word (s##t) during the clip! I was laughing at Rhys laughing and hence it never registered! To be fair, I’ve heard him say worse! However, I thought I should warn those of a sensitive nature that they may want to listen with the sound down ;-)

This is also a highly educational clip for all those who want to know what a “nasty pasty” is (it was news to me!) and how many zombies it would take to kill a vampire! Rhys explains all!

Also notice how having walked over sixteen miles and up a very steep hill to finish, the first thing he does is knock on the door and run away! That tells you everything you need to know about the boy right there!

I hope you enjoy the clip and thanks once again to everyone! We really appreciate it!

All the best,

Iain

PS I’m now aware I spelt “heroes” wrong on the video. Sorry! ;-)

PPS Notice how strong my accent gets when among fellow Cumbrians!

NOTE: To watch the video, please click on the small “play” icon on the bottom left of the player. The video file will then start to connect (be patient!). Once the file has fully downloaded (progress can be seen on the bottom bar), the video will start to play.