Exmouth home care manager aims to walk one million steps to raise money for charity

A Bluebird Care manager in Exmouth has signed up to walk an amazing one million steps in two months to help raise £250 for Diabetes UK after seeing first-hand the “severity" diabetes can have on people's lives.

According to Diabetes UK, nearly five million people in the UK have diabetes with 13.6 million people now at increased risk of type 2 diabetes in the UK. 850,000 people are currently living with type 2 diabetes but are yet to be diagnosed.

The one million step challenge is running between July and September 2021, with Frankie Rowe needing to average around 11,000 steps per day to meet her goal. So far, she has managed an amazing 369,575 steps.

Mrs Rowe is hoping to raise as much money for the charity as she has knows from both a professional and personal view the impact diabetes can have on people. She said: “I’ve seen the impact of the condition first-hand and try to keep myself as healthy as possible to avoid it myself with diet and exercise.

“Both my father and uncle have diabetes; luckily they can control it with their diets and my uncle has to take medication to control his.”

In a professional capacity, Mrs Rowe has supported customers who not only have to make adjustments to their diets and take medication to manage their diabetes, but she has also supported people that have lost limbs because of the condition.

“I’ve seen through work the severity of the impact of diabetes. Customers who lose their limbs to diabetes are usually the elderly as there was not as much information about diabetes as there is now and in some cases there was no information given at all as they had it long ago.

"This challenge will not only support me to be motivated to live a healthier lifestyle with what will be an increase of daily movement but if we can raise some money to support the charity that will further impact people living with the condition.

“I have been trying to average around 11,000 steps per day so I can allow for rest days.

Mrs Rowe also understands the impact of having a desk job can have on people and how lockdown has created a lack of motivation for people to do more exercise.

“When you are sitting at your desk every day, you don’t realise how little exercise you do. So when I do my full 11,000 steps, I personally feel fitter and more active. I also enjoy seeing more of the community and local environment.

“At the weekends, I love to do cliff trails and sometimes walk from Budleigh Salterton to Sidmouth. The walk takes you along a lovely section of the coast path with stunning views along the way. It's about a seven mile walk and some weekends, I find I am walking between 18,000 and 20,000 steps per day.”

Mrs Rowe’s husband even bought her a treadmill in March to keep the motivation going through lockdown. “This has given me more motivation to set myself a challenge and support the sector. At the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of people lost the motivation to go and do exercise but walking is the one thing I could do with the children and leave the house.”

And the managers' step mum is also stepping up to help raise funds for Diabetes UK. Mrs Rowe said: “We arrange to meet up together and give each other support. It has given us something to bond over as well as raise money.”

If you would like to support Frankie Rowe in raising funds for Diabetes UK, click here

click here for more details or to contact Bluebird Care