HONOURING KETA HANSEN

Participants in the walk stood outside Christ Church

Credit: Christ Church

HONOURING KETA HANSEN

A marathon walk honours a brave Christ Church alumna

Published: 12 August 2019

Author: Rory Moules

 

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In January 2019 Kevin Street lost his wife Keta Hansen following a 5-year battle with Motor Neurone Disease. Both are alumni of Christ Church. With her quality of life deteriorating from the debilitating effects of this awful disease, Keta was more than ready to go, and Kevin says: ‘Living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is the toughest of physical and mental challenges, but no matter what this terrible and debilitating disease threw at her, Keta never moaned or felt sorry for herself. Instead she always thought of others and made the best of every situation with a smile and a wicked sense of humour. Her selflessness was truly astonishing. We miss her terribly.’

Kevin, and his daughters Hebe and Violet, aged 17 and 15 respectively, completed many fundraising challenges over those years, but to mark Keta’s passing were keen to do something on a grander scale, engaging more people.

On 23rd July, they duly began to walk “Keta’s Journey” from Hartlepool, her home town, to Oxford where she met Kevin as a student, to Battersea where the girls’ were born, finishing in Godalming where they have lived for the last 7 years - 350 miles in two weeks. Walking nearly a marathon a day, with a number of family and friends joining them for all or part of the trip, they successfully finished the challenge on 6th August.

Top image: 3rd from L, Keta's sister Karen; 7th from L Kevin (black T-Shirt); next to him daughters Violet (orange T-shirt) and Hebe (black T-Shirt), and next to her is Keta's brother Neil.

Further detail on the walk may be seen on Facebook @ketasjourney, Twitter @Ketas_Journey and Instagram @Ketas_Journey