Oscar's Charity Extravaganza

01/08/2025

We took a hiatus from Oscar's walking challenge for about 3 months because 1) Oscar was dealing with bullies at school and really needed his time off to decompress and 2) we've had so many really hot days that have made it impossible to go for a walk without it affecting our health - we Brits are *not* prepared for these temperatures 🥵

As committed as we all are to this challenge, Oscar's physical and mental health will *always* come first!

But, it is the Summer holidays and the weather is cooler so we are back with a bang!

Oscar walked 11,106 steps yesterday on a day out with his grandparents. And today we did a Pokemon Go route and picked blackberries ready for a pie 🥧 which added a further 8,278 steps.

His total is currently at 33,929 steps, but that doesn't include a couple of walks we did and forgot to take the pedometer with us 🤦‍♀️ 3 ADHDers together forget the most ridiculous things!

We plan on retracing our steps and doing the same routes again so we can see how many steps they are and add them to the tally.

It feels so good to be back ☺️

12/05/2025

I have been really bad at updating this page lately 😳 life has just been particularly overwhelming.

So, how about some pics from Oscar's most recent walks?

The first was a lovely walk on Bank Holiday Monday. But I completely forgot to put his pedometer on, so we couldn't add any steps to the tally (even though I reckon he did at least 5000 steps based on similar walks) 🤦‍♀️

The second was a little wander down to the village churchyard, which is one of our favourite routes. That one added 2853 steps to the total.

It also introduced Oscar to cleavers, and he had great fun sticking them on us 😂

15/03/2025

Oscar is making the most of the blue skies to get some steps logged.

If you'd like to sponsor him you can do so at https://www.justgiving.com/page/oscar-250k-action-for-me

14/03/2025

Well, 2 years after his first fundraising challenge, Oscar is back again 😃

He wants to do another 250k steps for an M.E. charity, this time Action for ME. You can read more about it and sponsor him at https://www.justgiving.com/page/oscar-250k-action-for-me

And follow along here for updates as he takes on this challenge again. Last time it took him 9 months to achieve his goal - how long will it take this time, I wonder?

Help Amanda Shortman raise money to support Action for M.E.

23/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who sponsored Oscar in his Readathon. I have just made the donation to as the money came through from the PayPal fundraiser 😊

He raised £80 altogether, and is just starting his 6th book (he has until this Friday to finish it). He has done SO WELL, and we are so proud of him 🥰

This reluctant reader of ours has been drawn into the world of graphic novels and dragons, and even shared some of his school library book with me this morning!!

We started by setting 30 minute timers and all sitting together to read, and he's ended the challenge quite happily sitting on his own, reading as long as it took to reach a certain point (eg half way through the book, the end of the book etc). So we know he's gonna smash this final book before Friday 😀

I'll see if I can get him to do a review of the series he's read when he's finished it. Apparently book 4 was the best one (at least when he was at that point - maybe he's changed his mind after reading book 5 and 6!)

Anyway - please join me in congratulating Oscar on taking on another fundraising challenge and absolutely smashing it 👏

06/04/2024

Oscar completed the first graphic novel in this series, and has almost finished the second. Here's what he has to say about Wings Of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy...

I liked this book because it's cool. It has dragons. Dragons are cool. And the pictures are also cool.

(I take it he thought it was cool 😂 I asked him what his favourite part was... and he said, "one dragon killed another dragon in a really, really cool, epic way." I think that's all we're getting from him 😂).

23/03/2024

Oscar is back, with another fundraising challenge! 😃

After the success of his 250k steps for the ME Association last year, Oscar is now starting a new challenge with his school's Readathon.

He has to read 6 books between 25th March and 26th April. It may not sound like much, but for a reluctant reader like Oscar it's a big ask!

I asked around for book recs yesterday, and Oscar chose 3 graphic novels which feature dragons to get hom started. The first one arrived today ready to begin on Monday!

I've set up a fundraising page via PayPal, and all money raised will be sent at the end of the challenge to the Readathon fund. Money raised will be split between 3 charities - Read Well, CLIC SARGENT, and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.

Please consider donating if you can to help cheer him on. We'll keep you updated as he progresses.

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/931cfVEySF

05/11/2023

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Oscar started his challenge with his first walk on 4th February, and completed it with his final walk on 3rd November.

250,000 steps. 43 different walks. £444 raised for ME Association (you can still donate at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar250k - can we get him to £500?)

At the beginning of his challenge, I asked Oscar to share something about why he was doing this and what it meant to him to undertake such a big task. Here's what he said:

"I feel that being unable to recover from a condition is terrible, especially if those conditions mean that you're unable to do regular things.

"I have Autism which is a disability that causes stress in social interactions, however, I still made friends at school and I am friendly to people who help others despite my mental disability. I also have ADHD which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which means it's hard for me to concentrate on one thing, but there is also an H in ADHD which stands for hyperactive, this means it's hard to stand still.

"This is a very big challenge, but I feel like I can do it no matter what, because I'm willing to support the ME Association."

I am so incredibly proud of him, I cannot tell you. This year has been a really big one for Oscar - he completed year 6 (including SATs and a trip to France) and started year 7 at a whole new school. But even with so many changes happening in his life, requiring so much more energy than usual, he has continued to plod on and get those steps in. He is an absolute star!

Please join me in congratulating him on such an amazing achievement.

04/09/2023

It's been a long time coming, but Oscar has finally passed the 200k mark and is on the home stretch of his 250k steps challenge!

Last week he went to Yorkshire Wildlife Park with his grandparents and racked up a whopping 14,837 steps in one day 😮

Today we celebrated the final day of the Summer holidays with a walk to a (new to us) park in the village, before a fish and chip shop lunch. That added a further 3,662 steps to the total.

His tally now stands at 207,231, meaning he has completed 82% of his challenge. We started our walks in February and he has been on 36 different walks so far.

We were clear from the start that we wanted to track specific walks rather than just the steps he takes in a normal day, so that it was a real challenge. And he has done so well.

He starts secondary school tomorrow, which is a HUGE step for him, especially as he doesn't know anyone there as nobody from his primary school is going to the same one as him. But I know he's going to embrace that challenge the same way he has embraced this one - with enthusiasm and determination!

But it may be a while before we finish the final 47k steps of his challenge, as the next few weeks are likely to be a bit overwhelming for him. After all, us autistic people find change hard! But the hope is that we will have finished it before the year is out.

Thanks again for all your support so far, it has meant a lot. Now I just need to think of a suitable way to celebrate when Oscar takes those final steps - any thoughts?