A group of Cantabrians are walking from Akaroa to Christchurch today to raise money for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
The 76-kilometre walk is the brainchild of one woman who nearly lost her husband a year ago in a scuba diving accident.
Organiser Sara Syme has been training for six months for this – a walk that will take more than a day to complete, but she's not complaining.
"Having watched Dean go through what he has over the past year and the struggle every day, you just think, this is easy compared to what he does," she says.
Her husband Dean Syme's life changed in an instant while diving with friends by the Akaroa Heads. He reduced his breathing too much when coming up to the surface, and an air bubble went to his brain. Without the rescue helicopter, he'd be dead.
"The doctors were all amazed, what happened to me," says Mr Syme. "People don't normally make it to hospital."
His family and friends walking today say Mr Syme is a determined survivor. Doctors expected him to lose his eyesight and have brain damage. He was a paraplegic when he got out of hospital. But that was then; this is now.
"Absolutely determined that nothing was going to stop me and I was going to get back to doing everything I could beforehand," he says.
The walk is 76km and will take at least 16 hours. The walk symbolises that it's a long way to hospital without a rescue helicopter.
The walkers hope to get to Hagley Park by 9pm tonight and have already raised nearly $10,000.
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