After a close business partner was diagnosed with dementia at just 42, the franchise is now determined to raise awareness and money for the charity
More than 50 The Travel Franchise staff and franchisees will be embarking on a trek to the Lost City in Colombia on a mission to raise money for Mind this October.
For The Travel Franchise co-founders Steve Witt and Paul Harrison, the trek has a special significance. Witt’s brother and business partner Robin was diagnosed last year with rapid onset frontal temporal dementia aphasia at only 42 years old.
Witt said that initially it was missed and put down to depression. The family watched their beloved brother, father and son, “rapidly decline” over the year, fighting a “battle that cannot be won”.
“I’ve watched his children come to terms with losing their daddy, heard them saying that their only birthday wish was to hear their daddy say he loved them one more time,” said Witt. “I’ve watched my parents, who are in their 70s and 80s, lose their son to a battle that cannot be won.
“Today Robin is happy. He’s physically fit and to look at him you’d never know what was going on in his mind. Over the coming months, he will decline further. His mind will stop telling his muscles how to work, he’ll lose weight. He’ll stop eating and then eventually the inevitable will happen. But today Robin is happy and therefore we make the most of every single day.”
As horrible as the condition is, Witt said the family has been fortunate in some ways. The success of Not Just Travel, which Robin was a business partner in and accountant, meant that they were able to give him the best care possible, but sadly “not everyone is as fortunate as us,” he said.
The trek will see the 53-strong group of The Travel Franchise and its sister company Not Just Travel, including staff and franchisee travel consultants, trek 93-miles ‘Indiana Jones-style’ to the Lost City in Colombia. The tough trek will take them from Santa Marta on the Colombian coast, through jungle terrain, to Cuidad Perdida – the Lost City, thought to be around 650 years older than Machu Picchu in Peru.
The group will be staying with local indigenous people and the money to pay for the trek goes straight to the local community.
Everyone will be self-funding their adventure so that 100 per cent of the money raised will go to charity. Those taking part can raise money for Mind or any charity close to their hearts.
The team will also have Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise brand ambassador and double-Olympic decathlon medallist Daley Thompson who will be offering trekkers training advice and tips ahead of the trip.
Witt concluded: “It’s going to be a fun, exciting challenge that will be different from all the other charity challenges you have seen before. And most importantly, it’s going to raise money for an amazing cause.”
To donate to the team’s Mind fundraiser visit: wonderful.org/fundraiser/njtcharitychallenge-683f0ef7