'Anyone can be a superhero!'

These were the words of Jamie McDonald, also known as Adventureman, when he visited both KS1 and KS2 to talk about his fund raising adventures today. 

Jamie told the children how, as a child, he was diagnosed with a serious spinal condition, a weak immune system as well as epilepsy. Having spent much of his childhood in hospital, Jamie decided that he wanted to raise money to show his respect and gratitude for the children's hospitals that helped him, as well as others around the world.

In 2012, Jamie set off to cycle from Thailand to his hometown of Gloucester; a distance of over 14,000 miles! Having completed this epic journey and raising thousands of pounds for Gloucester Royal Hospital, Jamie went on to raise further funds by gaining two world records for the longest time spent on an exercise bike and the most amount of miles covered on a treadmill in seven days.

The stories that inspired us the most however were Jamie's tales from running 5,000 miles from the east coast of Canada to the west! During this time, he faced temperatures of minus 40, the incredible climbs of the Rocky Mountains and also met many inspirational young children in Canadian children's hospitals.

At the heart of all Jamie's adventures is his desire to raise money for sick children. From watching some of Jamie's videos and listening to his stories, the children were able to gain some understanding of the perseverance and determination needed to complete such challenging adventures. Jamie shared a text that he received from his father when he was struggling with injury. His father told him to try to complete just one more marathon and that he had more inside him than he knew. Jamie went on to complete another 60 marathons in order to reach Vancouver! 

We hope that our children will remember these words, whether it be completing one more lap of the playground, one more tricky maths question or one more creative sentence. Above all, we hope that Jamie has inspired our children to find their inner superhero and that they can use this to help other people in some small way. 

You can find out more about Jamie McDonald by visiting his website at https://www.adventureman.org/