Man's daily press-up challenge in memory of Mum

A man is attempting to do 300 press-ups every day for a year in memory of his mother, who had multiple sclerosis (MS) and died in May.

Alex Welford, 25, from Bristol, is raising funds for the MS Society and hopes the 100,000 press-up challenge will help further research into finding a cure for the condition.

Mr Welford's mother, Alison, died in May aged 66, after living with MS for more than 40 years.

Describing her as an “incredibly resilient, really confident” woman who never gave up, Mr Welford said he hoped his mother's journey will inspire others not to take life for granted.

“It wasn’t a great life but, nevertheless, she was an absolute trouper and she would always force a smile and never really complained,” said Mr Welford.

Mr Welford said his mum's condition worsened about five years ago, when she began losing the ability to speak.

He said it was particularly hard as she was "an absolute chatterbox" but eventually she had to be fed via a tube.

Caring for his mother, Mr Welford said the whole experience made him more resilient, but he found it hard to offer her support when she often wanted independence.

“(Being a carer) definitely raises your resilience because you’re having to crack on with it because there’s not really much else as an option,” he said.

“It’s a really tough balance of keeping someone’s independence, but keeping them safe as well.

“I think the last five or six years really resonated with that, where I think we finally won in our bid to keep her safe, but she lost in her battle for independence.”

Affecting the brain and the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis (MS) is a lifelong condition that can cause a wide range of potential symptoms.

It is most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s although it can develop at any age. It is about two to three times more common in women than men.

While they vary from person to person, symptoms of multiple sclerosis include:

• fatigue
• difficulty walking
• vision problems, such as blurred vision
• problems controlling the bladder
• numbness or tingling in different parts of the body
• muscle stiffness and spasms
• problems with balance and co-ordination
• problems with thinking, learning and planning

Source: NHS

Mr Welford, who works as a software engineer and grew up in Cornwall, raised £2,500 for the MS Society last year by doing 100 press-ups every day in January 2023.

He said he enjoyed the routine of working out daily and challenged himself to complete 100,000 press-ups every day in 2024 to raise £10,000 for the charity.

Taking up to an hour to complete the workout, Mr Welford has so far completed the exercise on the side of the road in Tunisia, in hostels, in airports, on a train to London and on an easyJet plane.

Mr Welford said he has had to remain disciplined because “as soon as you miss one day you’re ramping up to an insane number to get back on track".

“I’ve got to a point where it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up. I almost get anxiety if I don’t get them done,” he added.

In terms of the challenge itself, Mr Welford said the main motivator was "just making sure that anyone doesn’t have to experience the same state of life" that his mum went through.

While the fundraising is important, Mr Welford, who has raised more than £4,500 of his £10,000 target so far, said the whole experience had given him a different perspective.

“I think a lot of people day to day might complain about small, menial things but don’t zoom out and look at the overall, holistic picture," he said.

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