Broken wrist encourages nine year old Max to take on an epic walking challenge

After suffering a broken wrist on the first day of his holidays, nine year old Max decided to put his best foot forward and take on a 5K a day challenge to keep busy this summer.

Football-mad Max Guy from Edinburgh suffered a crushing blow when he broke his wrist during his first day of holiday soccer camp. He volunteered to go in goal, only to save a shot and then feel immediate pain. He’d fractured his wrist making a save that ruled him out of the rest of his planned activities for summer.

His mum Louise then challenged Max to join her on a walk round the block to stop him getting bored. And rising to that challenge, Max went on to walk around 140km in just four weeks, raising an incredible £750 for Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland.

Staying active

Max’s mum Louise says: “My son is very active, and he was devastated when he fractured his wrist the very first time he went in goal.

“He wore a splint for four weeks, and that meant no touch rugby, no football, no nothing! My son is always on the go, so it was a challenge to find something for him to do.”

Inspiration came in the shape of the Max’s neighbours, Tom and Karen Morris. Tom had suffered a life-changing stroke in 2019, and the couple have been supported greatly by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland ever since.

Karen suggested to Louise that Max do a sponsored walk round their estate. But Max had his eye on a bigger prize.

“Karen said she’d sponsor Max, so I asked him if he’d like to do the walk around our block. He said ‘that isn’t much of a challenge, is it?’ and then asked if he could do a 5k walk. We had done 5k a day in May, so he knew it was a bigger challenge,” explains Louise.

“And it just snowballed from there. We thought about which charity we’d like to support, and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland struck a chord. It’s very close to our hearts because of our neighbour Tom and also because my mum had pulmonary fibrosis and my stepdad had COPD and heart failure.”

You’ll never walk alone

Every day for a month, Max and Louise – often joined by his dad Dean – set out to walk 5k, usually incorporating the distance into other activities such as a visit to Edinburgh Zoo or climbing near Aviemore. The final 5k came on August 8 when the family went to Liverpool to watch Max’s football heroes in action.

“Max is football daft, and his two teams are Hearts and Liverpool. We were lucky enough to get tickets for one of Liverpool’s pre-season friendlies, and he was so happy to see his favourite players,” adds Louise.

“We took a bus to Anfield from the city centre but walked back, so we did about 9k on his final day of walking.

“Now his splint is off, he’s back playing football and he’s having a rest from daily 5k walks.

“Max has really inspired people. We’ve had some great messages of support on our Justgiving page.

“At the start I was out of pocket on every walk because we were passing the local Costa every day! I started distracting him by bringing friends and his cousins along. He’s done an amazing thing. I’m very proud of him.”

Max says: “I’m really happy I raised a lot for the charity. I thought the 5k a day was fun because some days I didn’t have a lot to do, and it made me refreshed. I really liked walking round the Lochs on holiday and when mum took the 5k photo on every walk.”

All money raised in Scotland stays in Scotland to help people like Max’s neighbour Tom get the support they need when they need it most.

If you would like to help Max boost his fundraising total, please visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/max5kaday