Boy, 9, completes 12-hour march around London to raise money for Bristol children's hospital
Barney Thomas underwent surgery as a baby after being born with two holes in his heart
Last updated 26th Dec 2023
A nine-year-old boy from Bristol has completed a 12-hour midnight march around central London to raise money for the hospital that saved his life.
Barney Thomas has raised more than £2,500 according to the JustGiving page set up by his dad, Darren Thomas.
The page explains how Barney was born with 2 holes in his heart and underwent surgery at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
To say thank you for the care he received, he enjoys doing annual fundraising events around the festive period, raising more than £7,000 for toys and electronics for the children and their parents to use during their time at the hospital.
This year Barney went on a 22-mile “midnight march” around the streets of London, starting at Paddington Station on Friday evening and finishing at 6am on Saturday morning (23rd December).
"I feel tired but proud that we've done it - I feel joyous," Barney told the PA news agency.
"My feet hurt and it was a little bit tiring, but it was OK."
Barney was joined by his dad and his godfather, Bradley Hackett, as the trio walked to places such as Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Tower Bridge before catching the first train home on Saturday morning.
Darren, an operations manager for Network Rail, said Barney fell asleep within "about 30 seconds" of sitting down on the train home.
"I look back to when he was really ill when he was little and now we do this every year, it's something to always look forward to," he said.
Barney used a GoPro camera to film the entire walk, creating a timelapse which Darren later posted to Instagram.
He said he has "loads" of blisters following the challenge, adding that both his and Barney's feet hurt by around 3am.
"(Barney's) feet hurt and he was a little bit tired but I showed him how much we'd raised and said we had to keep going," he said.
"It was so motivating to see how many people had donated, we didn't expect to raise that much."