Our motivation

My partner Stephanie and I like to run and hike as much as possible. The Way of St. James from Kreuzlingen to Geneva in particular has awakened our desire to cover longer distances. Our long-standing dream is therefore a long-distance march over several months.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, I walked around Lake Pfäffikon with my dog Leo. I spontaneously said to Leo: "Come on, let's walk to Perranporth in Cornwall!". I often went surfing in Perranporth with my sons and later also walked the coastal footpath with Stephanie. The south-west of England is a wonderful region for all of us, both on the Channel coast and on the Atlantic.

We will soon be walking from Seegräben via Basel, Dijon, Paris, Rouen to Dieppe and onwards in England via Swanage, Dartmoor, Plymouth to Perranporth. We are currently planning the hike, which will take several months, in such a way that it will also be a great experience for our dogs.

The Atlantic coast of Cornwall near Perranporth in England.

My charity run

According to a recent study, there are around 10,000 children and adolescents in Switzerland who require pediatric palliative care. This figure is significantly higher than previously thought. In the UK, the figure is around 99,000.

I would like to combine our long-distance march to Cornwall with a personal charity run. It is important to me to support families in need.

"Together for short lives" is the name of the children's hospice movement in the UK, which really touched me. Children's hospices are widely accepted by society in England, Scotland and Wales. 56 children's hospices have been established in the meantime, none in Switzerland to date.

Switzerland lacks a professional bridging service for families with a child with a life-limiting illness. There is no supplement or gap-filling to the corresponding services and facilities in children's hospitals, from paediatricians, children's home care organizations and voluntary services.
The ground-breaking ceremony in December 2023 marked the start of the construction of the first children's hospice in the greater Zurich area: The Flamingo Children's Hospice is being built by the Swiss Children's Hospice Foundation in Fällanden on Lake Greifensee. The plan is to take in up to eight children and young people with life-limiting illnesses as well as their parents and siblings from the end of 2025. The children's hospice in Fällanden is an absolute necessity for me.

My partners

Our charity run for the first Flamingo children's hospice in Fällanden is supported by the Seegräben trade association - thank you very much.

Leo, my therapy dog

I have had Leo, a mixed breed of Australian Shepherd and Appenzell Mountain Dog, since March 2019. In 2022 and 2023, we formed a therapy dog team to be trained. We regularly visit a resident in a care center. My father is also happy about Leo's visits: "It's great that we have a dog!"

Leo, an Appenzell mix, is a trained therapy dog.

In the last five years, Leo and I have covered a distance of around 27,500 kilometers on foot. If we keep going like this, we will have marched - at least virtually - around the world in another two years. Last year, for example, it was roughly the same distance as the crow flies from Seegräben to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. At around 18 kilometers a day, I need at least six pairs of running shoes a year and Leo needs a bit more dog food.