Havering (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Romford landscaper from Havering, is walking 5,000 miles to Ghana in tribute to his late fiancée who died from cancer, ensuring her memory lives on.
Before Caroline Sarpong passed away on November 11 of last year, Daniel Forrester, 47, of Chelmsford, and his partner had been dating for almost two years and had been engaged for eleven months.
Prior to meeting Mr. Forrester, Ms. Sarpong was married. She had colorectal cancer, which progressed to her liver, lymph nodes, and lungs. She then received a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor.
Before returning to London, where she was born, Mr. Forrester will honor his fiancée by carrying her ashes from Saint Francis Hospice in Havering-atte-Bower in Romford, where she got end-of-life care, to her hometown of Kumasi, Ghana, where she resided from the age of four to nineteen.
In order to raise money for the hospice, he is scheduled to finish his walk in six to twelve months, beginning on September 20, the day the couple intended to get married.
“I wanted to do something for Caroline. I wanted her memory to live on,” he told the PA news agency.
“I just wanted to show to everyone, even after her passing, what a beautiful, wonderful woman she was.”
Ms. Sarpong visited the hospital in 2021 with stomach pains, but after her colon ruptured and doctors gave her six months to live, she had to have emergency surgery.
After undergoing cancer and entering remission in January 2022, she met Mr. Forrester a year later.
His late fiancée, he said, was his “angel” who “completed” him.
“She was just so selfless and caring. She literally put everyone first,” he said.
“I can’t do her justice by telling you what she was like. It’s so hard to describe her, but for me, she’s my angel.
I’ve never met anybody in my life who’s been more influential in me becoming a better person.”
Before traveling to Dover to take a ferry to Calais and walk south to Lourdes in France, Mr. Forrester will walk from Romford to Canterbury then take a boat from Barking Riverside to Woolwich, a route the couple frequently took on date evenings.
Before traveling to Kumasi, Ghana, he will first trek through Spain to Gibraltar, then take a ferry to Morocco, where he will walk across the Western Sahara to Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast.
He stated that taking on this project assisted him in grieving for Ms. Sarpong said that he plans to walk from Romford to Gibraltar in 72 days, hoping to reach the destination on December 2nd, the one-year anniversary of her death.
“After her funeral, I was at rock bottom. I couldn’t think of anything to motivate me to even open the curtains,”
he said.
“I ordered a book online about someone who walked from London to Rome… within 10 pages, I decided to go for a walk.”
The day before Christmas Eve last year, he took his first walk following Ms. Sarpong’s funeral from his house in Chelmsford to her house in Barking, where he picked up her ashes to take home and dropped off gifts for her family.
In an attempt to gather “as much money as possible” for the hospice, which gave Ms. Sarpong “exemplary” care, Mr. Forrester stated that he chose an arbitrary aim of £1 billion on his GoFundMe page rather than setting a fundraising objective.
It would be a particularly difficult logistical and physical task to walk from Romford, UK, to Ghana; routes, visas, supplies, and safety would all need to be carefully planned.
In addition to inspiring others and bringing attention to individual tales of love and resiliency, embarking on such a journey may also help fund philanthropic causes.
“The level of care for Caroline was really out of this world, nothing was too much trouble for them as they attempted to make Caroline’s final days as comfortable and as dignified as they possibly could,”
he said.
“I myself will never forget that, and I take great comfort in knowing Caroline went peacefully and comfortably, whilst under their care at Saint Francis.”
To support Mr Forrester’s fundraiser, people can visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/london-to-ghana-5k-mile-walk.
What inspired the Havering man to embark on such a long and challenging journey?
Making sure his fiancée’s memory endures was the man’s highly personal purpose for walking from Romford to Ghana.
The human desire to memorialize departed loved ones and leave enduring legacy is reflected in this remarkable voyage. Such perseverance and investigation are frequently motivated by a desire to build relationships, learn fresh viewpoints, and turn sadness into constructive action.
His decision to go on this difficult walk also fits with Stewart Weaver’s larger concepts of human exploration, which hold that adventure and discovery are fundamental components of who we are as people.
The purpose of the stroll is to honor his fiancée, signifying dedication and remembering. Additionally, it might help raise money or publicity for a cause that is associated with her memory.