Preston North End fan Michelle Hill is walking past Deepdale on Saturday 17th October as part of the Mind Walk event where people across the country are walking in aid of the mental health charity.
Mind is a mental health charity that provides advice and support for anyone experiencing a mental health problem, while campaigning to improve services for, and raise awareness of, mental health issues.
The mental health charity has been working in partnership with the EFL and its club in recent seasons to use the power of football to campaign for better mental health.
Michelle is walking in support of her nine-year-old daughter Liley-Rae, who has severe anxiety, having sadly been bullied at school. Michelle also has anxiety, but is determined to complete the walk to show her daughter that that doesn’t need to hold them back in life.
The 7.2-mile walk will take Michelle from Leyland, past the home of Preston North End at Deepdale and to her parents’ house in Preston.
She is starting the walk with her husband Chris and will be joined for the final leg of the walk at Deepdale by daughter Liley-Rae and son Toby.
Michelle said: “Having anxiety myself, I have made it my mission to show Liley-Rae that even though it’s hard having this condition, we don’t need to let it stop us doing the things we love.
“This has also included joining the parents street dance team at Dance Talent Studios, where Liley-Rae was going to street dancing. She really enjoyed going, but her anxiety was making it hard for her, so I joined, too.
“Lockdown was really hard for Liley-Rae so doing this walk is really important to me. She wanted to do the walk with us as in her words, she wants to help other who feel like her, but it’s a little too far so she will be meeting us at with her little brother Toby at Deepdale to walk the last part of the walk.”
Good luck to Michelle and her family – you can visit their fundraising page by clicking here – and everyone else completing The Mind Walk on Saturday!
For more information about Mind and the support that they offer, visit the charity's website here.