Northampton teen walking more than 230 miles for dementia charity to honour his ‘pappy’ who died last year

A Northampton teenager is on a mission to walk more than 230 miles in two months in memory of his ‘pappy’ who died last year.

Lewis Horne, from St James, was really close with his grandfather who died in February 2020 after suffering with dementia for three years.

To honour his ‘pappy’, the 13-year-old has now decided to raise money for Dementia UK by virtually walking from London to Paris.

Lewis’ dad, Samuel Horne, said: “We had to watch my father suffer and go through this awful disease.

“When he passed away he wasn’t suffering anymore, but the loss was still hurtful for me and the kids and the rest of the family.

“People all grieve in different ways and I thought my son wasn’t grieving.

“Then he came down one day and said ‘if you don’t mind, I’m going to do a virtual walk from London to Paris in honour of pappy’.”

The teen is already three weeks and 93 miles into his 234-mile challenge, meaning he is - virtually - in the middle of the English Channel with around 140 miles to go to reach the French capital.

Lewis added: “I try to do a bit of walking every day.

“I walk home from school so that counts and when I walk to the shops or anything else that all counts towards it.

“I did also do a 12-mile walk around Northampton too.

“I am finding it quite fun as I’m getting to see new things I wouldn’t normally see if we were driving past in a car and I get to spend some time looking around.”

Samuel continued: “Lewis is doing pretty well.

“He just goes off on his walks and he is a keen photographer too so he has taken some beautiful pictures of Northampton.

“It really gets my heart that he is doing this and that he just decided he would do it for his pappy.

“He would be looking down on him now, so proud of what he is doing.”

Originally Lewis set out to raise £50, but after setting up an online fundraising page and family and friends generously showing their support, the youngster has already raised more than £150.

Lewis was ‘over the moon’ to see he had beat his target, but is keen to raise as much as possible for the charity working to find a cure for the disease that took his ‘pappy’.

To support Lewis and make a donation, visit his JustGiving page here.

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