When her little sister Debra was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February, Janice Campbell leapt into action.
She raced down from Stonehaven, where she lives with husband Neil, to be with Debra at her home in Wales.
The sisters — only one year apart at 63 and 64 — had always been close growing up in Largs in North Ayrshire.
But the shock diagnosis of the degenerative and terminal condition brought them even closer.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family rallied round – youngest sister Gail flew in from Spain, while Debra’s four children did their bit.
“We struggled a bit with it in it over the few months, my sister and I, and we found it quite difficult,” Janice says of that time.
“But when we get together, we do nothing but talk and giggle and laugh and we have a great time. My sister has a great sense of humor, she really does. She keeps us going.”
The beginning of the walking challenge
Back in those early days, the idea of walking one million steps in a month to raise money for motor neurone disease research would have been absurd to Janice.
When Neil, 63, suggested it at the start of the summer, she dismissed it. She was too busy thinking about her sister.
But as July approached and Debra’s condition looked more stable – or at least not degenerating too quickly – Janice mulled it over.
She was still visiting her sister regularly, and a big family meet-up was planned for November.
In Wales, Debra was coping with her disease in typically determined fashion.
But Janice couldn’t be by her sister’s side all the time. Here was a chance to do something in Stonehaven.
So Neil and Janice worked up a plan.
They would walk one million steps each within a calendar month, and donate the money they raised to My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, the charity set up by ex-Scotland rugby play Doddie Weir who died with motor neurone disease last year.
It was their way of helping out – for Debra and all the other people diagnosed with this cruel and unforgiving disease.
Plus, there was another reason to take up the challenge.
“I don’t like to give in,” Janice says, a nugget of steel in her voice. “I’m a bit like my sister in that way.”
Walking a total of 36 marathons for motor neuron disease
Just how far is one million steps?
There are a number of ways you can break it down. The easiest way is the total distance, which Neil – very much the practical half of the Stonehaven couple – puts at around 470 miles.
That is equivalent to around 18 marathons. If you cram them all into a month that means walking more than 15 miles a day.
Or, to put it another way, Neil and Janice faced the prospect of walking the distance from Stonehaven to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary every day for 31 days.
Everyone thought they were mad. Including Debra.
“This challenge that Neil and Janice have undertaken is crazy!” she tells the Press and Journal by email. “But also amazing. They are so committed to this cause and I am so proud of them.”
A challenge – and a logistical headache
July was chosen as the month to complete the challenge.
Neil divided the total into 31 chunks of 32,300, to be monitored on the couple’s smart watches. When they hit their daily counts, their watches buzzed.
Though both retired from their day jobs (Neil is a former banker with the Clydesdale Bank and Janice worked as an at-home carer for the NHS) the couple own holiday lets in Stonehaven and Cromarty.
That keeps them busy. As do the grandkids that live nearby with Janice’s daughter.
So, with 32,300 steps taking the best part of five hours to complete, trying to fit it into the day has been a real challenge.
“It’s certainly not easy,” Neil says.
Janice puts it in even simpler terms.
“Very tiring and time consuming,” she says.
Sore feet and short legs: How Neil and Janice tackled the challenge
Both Neil and Janice were keen walkers anyway, which helped at the start.
But ramping up from their usual five to seven miles a day to more than double that did take its toll.
Sore feet and stiff joints became the norm. In the middle of the month, Neil got sick so took a day off. A few days later, the couple had to squeeze in more than 55,000 steps to make up for it.
“I felt it after that day,” says Janice, wincing at the memory.
Not long after they started the challenge, the couple made an interesting discovery. Janice was piling up the steps faster than Neil.
“I’m a lot smaller, to say the least,” says Janice. “I take about four steps to his one so it’s a bit of a laugh.”
What Janice thinks about as she walks around Stonehaven
As the end of the challenge nears, there has been time for reflection.
The walk has given Janice time to think about her sister, who with her sense of humour and love of all things Rod Stewart had been such a presence in her life.
Neil and Janice moved around a lot because of Neil’s job. Originally from Tiree, Neil has been all over Scotland and even spent a few years in Perth, Australia.
But though Janice’s sisters also ended up far from their hometown of Largs, they always kept in touch with regular meet-ups.
It was during one of those reunions last November that Janice noticed Debra having more difficulty walking.
At first, she thought it was lupus, or perhaps a mini-stroke as Debra’s speech was slurred.
But when the MND diagnosis eventually came the following February, the news shattered the whole family.
More shock followed when Debra and Janice’s brother John, who lived in Largs, died only a few weeks later aged 66.
“She struggled a lot with that, because she was closest to him,” Janice says.
But despite the setbacks, Debra came through. In a situation that would see many crumble, she resolved to live life to the fullest.
“I face each challenge of this disease head on and deal with it the best I can whilst maintaining a good sense of humour,” says Debra.
“And of course listening to Rod Stewart every day.”
For Janice, Debra is her inspiration.
“I’ve got my sister in the back in my mind every time I’m out walking,” she says. “If I feel I’m getting tired, I think no, you can do it. Look what she’s going through.
“That pushes you. It makes you want to finish it.”
To donate to Neil and Janice’s 1,000,000 Step Challenge in July for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, click here.