‘I was housebound for years until 12 months ago, now I’m doing the Bridgnorth Walk for a very important reason - here’s why’

A woman who has been housebound and bed bound for nearly two decades until a year ago is to take on one of Shropshire’s toughest challenges in memory of a close friend.

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Caroline Murphy from Alveley, near Bridgnorth is to take on the gruelling 22-mile challenge when the event returns to Bridgnorth on May 4.

But until last year, the 37-year-old was housebound and bedbound, and had been for nearly 20 years due to a raft of illnesses.

She said: “I haven’t done anything like this since 2000. Over the years I’ve had multiple surgeries and have a metal ankle. I’ve no gallbladder, and until last year I was house and bed bound for nearly 20 years. So this is going to be particularly hard for me.”

But she added she has a very important reason to take on the challenge.

“I’m walking the 22 miles of the Bridgnorth Walk for Andy’s Man Club - a male mental health charity - in memory of my friend, Ceri Collins.”

Ceri took his own life in October 2022. He had played football for Merthyr Town Football Club. He was just 39 when he died.

But during his life had a big impact on Caroline.

“I’m doing it because losing Ceri showed me just how important support and mental health services are,” she said. “No one should feel like they have to struggle alone.

“While alive he was a staunch advocate for mental health especially for men. He was extremely active and a real musician, a complete lover of everyone he met and he was absolutely the brightest spark that gave a little of his light to everyone he met.”

She said so far she has raised around half of her £500 goal for charity Andy’s Man Club - a men’s suicide prevention charity that offers free to attend peer-to-peer support groups across the United Kingdom and online.

“Most of the donations have so far come from people that I’ve never met but were Ceri’s friends, and genuinely they are all so lovely and you can feel that positive beautiful soul just speaking to them.

“He will always bring us together somehow. He was a Liverpool supporter so I know ‘you’ll never walk alone’”

If you wish to support Caroline, a link to her charity page can be found at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/caribridgnorthwalk