Grab your pooch and join the Big Purple Dog Walk 2023! This March #TeamPaws is making a comeback for a third year running. Do you have a furry four-legged friend? Fancy creating your own challenge this Spring with your pup?
Then the Big Purple Dog Walk might just be for you! No matter where you are, or what challenge you decide, all hounds are welcome to put their paws to the test to help to raise vital funds for – helping people with
Last year #TeamPaws raised a staggering £11,733 for MS-UK. This is enough to run our national helpline for just over a month! If you today and set up your JustGiving page, MS-UK will send your pup an exclusive dog bandana once they receive your first donation. Raise £100 and your pup will be sent their very own rosette and certificate for being a fundraising su-paw-hero!
This year, Anjali Silva-Vadgama, 33, from Barton Seagrave, will aim to walk at least 5,000 steps every Sunday through the rolling countryside of Twywell Hills and Dales for the charity’s Big Purple Dog Walk.
The weekly treks will be no mean feat – since her diagnosis with MS in 2019, Anjali’s mobility has been affected and she needs a walking stick to get around, and sometimes a wheelchair. But that’s not the only hurdle she’s facing: “I have to be really careful as I don’t re-start my usual MS medication until mid-April,” she says.
“I’ve been on a different drug for the last year because my wife Asha and I are trying for a baby and the fertility treatment I’m on has meant I had to stop my medication. I’ve been on a weekly injectable drug instead which has been horrible,” she says. “Thankfully, the medical board have decided I can go back on my usual treatment soon and carry on with the fertility planning.”
Anjali chose MS-UK because the charity has been a big support since her diagnosis. The Big Purple Dog Walk encourages everyone with a dog to get outside and exercise a bit more, and the challenges are totally accessible – you just set the activity for the month and off you go.
Living near the Dales made it easy for Anjali. “I’ve got three dogs, Bailey, a whippet/collie cross, and Kodi and Nala who are chow chow/mastiff crosses,” she explains. “I’m up for the challenge but we usually only make it half as far as this in one day, and then I have to rest on the sofa for the afternoon!”
All money raised will help MS-UK provide support for people affected by multiple sclerosis.
Sign up now at or call 01206 226500 to speak to a member of the fundraising team for more information.
