A 70-year-old grandmother dubbed a ‘walking miracle’ has completed an 87-mile trek along Hadrian’s Wall, just months after heart surgery. Barbara Kelsey is now preparing for the final leg of a 14-year fundraising mission that has raised £75,000 in memory of her son-in-law, who died of a rare cancer at just 30.
Barbara, from Curdworth in Warwickshire, walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall in nine days this June and has since completed a gruelling three-and-a-half hour gym circuit challenge, seven circuits of ten machines at Gymphobics in Sutton Coldfield. In November, she will complete the last of the three challenges, swimming 70 lengths of a pool in Axminster, Devon, alongside her niece and great-niece.
Since 2012, she and others have raised £75,000 for Sarcoma UK in memory of her son-in-law, Andrew Wheddon, who died aged 30 from retroperitoneal rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of sarcoma cancer.
Andrew was married to Barbara’s daughter Jayne for two years before he died. He had initially put his symptoms down to back pain but, in October 2011, was diagnosed with sarcoma in his stomach. The cancer took his life a year later, in October 2012.
‘When he walked in the room he made you feel great,’ said Barbara of Andrew, who worked in catering and hospitality. He would often tell people ‘you’re a legend,’ so the fund set up in his memory is called ULegend.
Andrew was especially keen that his legacy would help children with bone cancer, and Sarcoma UK told him they fund research which could potentially help young patients with the disease in the future. ‘Children will survive and live normal lives because of that research. A true legacy for Andrew,’ said Barbara.
The fundraising began while Andrew was still alive by Barbara’s hockey friends, with the first challenge in August 2012 seeing 15 friends and family cover 320 miles of the south-west coast, from Widemouth Bay to Topsham, using every mode of transport they could think of, including walking, sailing, horse riding, space hoppers and pogo sticks. Andrew’s own contribution was to drive a golf buggy around the Carlyon Hotel and Golf Complex.
‘Andy would say “it’s a challenge, not a holiday”,’ Barbara recalled. That same year, a friend’s daughter, 17-year-old Lauren, completed all 14 peaks of Snowdonia in a single day, with Barbara camping overnight at the summit of Snowdon. The year’s fundraising culminated in a black-tie ball at the Forest of Arden Hotel in Warwickshire, the venue where Andrew and Jayne held their wedding reception, raising more than £5,000 on the night.
Andrew was a big fan of The Beatles and his coffin was made to look like a yellow submarine. The Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’ had become a personal anthem for him during his treatment.
Andrew was born in August 1982 in Ashford, Kent, and moved to Dorridge, Solihull, with his parents and older brother Gary shortly afterwards. Despite being identified as dyslexic at school, he was never out of work, starting in a travel agency before moving into the hotel trade, eventually becoming food and beverage manager at The George Hotel in Solihull. At 6ft 4in, he was hard to miss, playing rugby for Old Silhillians in Solihull and later in Kidderminster, and cricket for Dorridge. He met Jayne in 2003 and two years later cycled across India in aid of Cancer Research.
Over the years since his death, many challenges have been held in his memory, including camping and cycling trips in the Peak District and Shropshire; a wet weekend canoeing the River Wye in full spate, and ‘river games’ on the banks of the Colorado River in California, where some of Andy’s ashes were later scattered.
For her 60th birthday in 2016, Barbara walked the 200-mile Coast to Coast Path with 30 friends, a challenge inspired by climbing Tryfan in Snowdonia with Andy for her 50th, during which he had jokingly pleaded that they simply go for a curry instead next time. Five years later, for her 65th, Barbara completed a triathlon, finishing the cycling and walking legs with a fully detached shoulder tendon.
The Wheddon family has also hosted 14 annual golf tournaments at a course in Wishaw, organised by Barbara’s husband Kev. Andy was well enough to attend the very first one in June 2012, and Barbara still remembers him standing on the first and 18th tees in the rain, congratulating every player as they came through.
Last year, Barbara, who is married to Kevin, needed heart surgery for atrial fibrillation. Because of that and other health issues, she has decided that 2026 will be her final year of fundraising. ‘I’m pushing my luck to do anything physically challenging,’ she admitted.
Barbara has had a varied life of her own. She left school with one O-level and signed up for the police cadets before joining the regular force, where she became the first female police physical training instructor in England and Wales. At 40, she went to Warwick University where she took a geography degree with qualified teacher’s status and, two years later, a master’s degree in educational management, leading to a second career in teaching. In later years, her life took another turn when she started her own painting and decorating business, Barb’s Brush Strokes.
Kerry Reeves-Kneip, Sarcoma UK’s Director of Fundraising and Communications, said Barbara’s story was a remarkable one, long before this year’s challenges even began. ‘Barbara has spent her whole life taking on challenges, from retraining and studying for a master’s degree in her 40s to a string of physical feats most people half her age wouldn’t attempt,’ she said. ‘But what she’s doing now, at 70, is something else again. It’s incredible. And she’s doing it all to fund the sarcoma cancer research that means other families don’t have to lose someone they love the way she and her family lost Andrew.’
To donate, visit: justgiving.com/page/barb-kelsey
