Positive steps Stroke victim Rachel eyes six-mile charity walk target

COMPLETING a mile in Bristol After Stroke’s 2024 Charity Walk just a few months after a massive stroke was just the first step in Rachel Trudgian’s determined march back to fitness.

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Now, just one year later, she hopes to walk the full six miles unaided.

Bristol After Stroke supports over 1,400 people in Bristol and South Gloucestershire every year on their stroke recovery journey - and the walk is the charity's biggest single annual fundraiser.

The walk starts in Eastville Park and participants can choose between a one-mile accessible route, or the three and six-mile routes along the Frome Valley Walkway. But everyone recovering from a stroke will set their own personal target - from a few steps through to the full six miles.

And one of the standout moments of last year’s Charity Walk was Rachel and her daughter Millie completing the one-mile walk - just months after Rachel had experienced a massive stroke and Millie had been seriously injured in a motorbike accident in Sri Lanka.

Now, with just a few months to go before the 2025 edition of the Walk, Rachel has been exercising relentlessly in an effort to complete the whole six miles of the longest route - even as she is still experiencing many of the symptoms of stroke and has only recently been able to resume her former role as operations manager for a data cabling company.

The stroke was a shock to fit and active Rachel.