A software engineer is trying to do 300 push-ups every day this year to raise £10,000 for charity in memory of his mother, who died from multiple sclerosis (MS).
Alex Welford, 25, from Bristol, challenged himself to complete 100,000 push-ups throughout the year to raise money for the MS Society after his mother, Alison Welford, died from multiple sclerosis in May.
Mrs Welford, who was 66, had lived with the disease for more than 40 years, but her condition began to deteriorate in the five years before her death. She began to lose the ability to speak, which Alex said was difficult because her mother was “an absolute chatterbox”, and she then had to be fed through a tube.
“It wasn’t a great life, but even so, she was an absolute troublemaker and always forced a smile and never complained,” Alex said.
He does an average of 300 push-ups a day and has completed the exercise in unusual locations such as “on the side of the road in Tunisia, in hostels, in airports, on an easyJet plane and on a train to London” to continue.
“At the beginning of the year I was quite nervous. I tried to do them in my room and away from people,” he said.
“But I definitely learned not to worry; I would never see myself doing that on a plane.”
The workout can take up to an hour to complete, but he feels he needs to be disciplined because “as soon as you miss a day, you ramp it up to an insane number to get back on track.”
“I’ve gotten to the point where it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up. I almost get anxious if I don’t do it,” he said.
He has some experience of staying disciplined as he raised £2,500 for the MS Society last year by doing 100 push-ups every day in January 2023.
He said caring for his mother made him more resilient, but he found it difficult to offer her support when she often wanted independence.
See more information:
Doctor Who superfan looking for new home for Dalek
Spencer Matthews will run 30 marathons in 30 days
“[Being a carer] it definitely builds your resilience because you’re having to move on because there’s not much of another option,” he said.
“It’s a very difficult balance between maintaining someone’s independence but also keeping them safe.
“I think the last five or six years have really resonated with that, where I think we finally won in our attempt to keep her safe, but she lost in her battle for independence.”
He hopes his fundraising will help with future research to find a cure for multiple sclerosis.
“I think the main motivator of the entire MS Society for me is just to make sure that no one has to experience the same state of life that my mother did, especially at the end,” he said.
Alex described her mother as an “incredibly resilient and very confident” woman who “never gave up” and said she hopes her journey can inspire others not to take life for granted.
“No matter the situation, she would move forward and never let anything stop her from living a normal life,” he said.
“I think a lot of people in everyday life might complain about small, insignificant things, but don’t zoom out and look at the bigger, holistic picture.
“I think we could all be a little tougher.”
Alex, who set up his GoFundMe in January 2024, has so far raised more than £4,700 of his £10,000 target.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
