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CROCKED charity champion Vicky Honar conquered immense pain caused by a cycling accident to make an historic trek for a good cause across a new £1.35 billion iconic landmark bridge.
The structure over the River Forth links the county of Fife and the Scottish capital of Edinburgh and has no pedestrian walkway. The Queensferry Crossing Experience was organised to celebrate its opening.
More than a quarter of a million people applied to walk across the new structure and Vicky and her husband, Mehdi, were amongst only 50,000 lucky ballot-winning fund-raisers allowed to make a unique journey on foot before the bridge was opened exclusively to vehicles.
“Everyone was very excited and made the most of this special experience,” the delighted and gritty expat midwife who lives in Saar said after battling back to health from a major operation to make the walk possible.
“My niece posted a link to the ballot on Facebook in June. Most of my family and friends in Scotland had put themselves in for the ballot so Mehdi and I applied as well. I am old enough to remember when the Forth Road Bridge was built, watching its progress from the ferry which had previously been the only way to cross the River Forth from Fife to Edinburgh. The Forth Road Bridge opened in 1964 when I was nine.”
Just a few days after registering, on the first day of Eid, Vicky had a cycling accident and fractured the left neck of her femur. That same day she had an operation in the BDF Hospital to replace the top part of the bone with a titanium prosthesis: a hemiarthroplasty, a surgical procedure that replaces one half of the hip joint with a prosthetic, while leaving the other half intact.
“I received excellent care from both the medical and nursing staff at the BDF, however recovery from a major injury like this takes several months,” explained Vicky. “Anyway, after this happened the Queensferry Crossing Walk was the last thing on my mind as I was too busy getting back on my feet firstly with a Zimmer frame, and then a walking stick.”
IT’S ONCE IN A LIFETIME ON FOOT
Just two weeks later the Honars found they had been successful in the ballot. “Although at the time I could hardly walk across a room I decided that I would confirm our participation in the bridge walk which would be 10 weeks after the accident,” Vicky said. “Both the surgeon and physio at the BDF reassured me that I would be able to do it. Later we found out that none of our family and friends in Scotland had been successful in the ballot so that was another important motivation.
“I worked really hard to get as mobile and fit as I could by firstly walking in the pool on our compound, then gradually increasing distances ‘on land’ – mainly in the malls as it was so hot outside, as well as weekly physio sessions and exercising every day at home.
“I was also determined to get back on a bike as soon as I could and I managed that by six weeks. I was able to walk between 4km and 5km before we travelled to Scotland – quite a lot further than the length of the crossing at 2.7km.”
The couple was fundraising for the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, formerly the Sick Kid’s Friends Foundation. This organisation has provided great support for the children cared for at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and their families for many years.
A new children’s hospital is currently under construction in Edinburgh so the charity will be continuing to provide services there.
Back in 2009, aged 12, their daughter, Persia, a former St Christopher’s School pupil, was treated at the hospital for a rare form of bone cancer that involved intensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and multiple surgeries, as reported in GulfWeekly and she still attends yearly for follow-up consultations. The parents have raised and donated several thousand pounds for the foundation and continue to support it as much as they can.
“The whole event was extremely well organised from beginning to end. Around 25,000 people walked across the bridge on the Sunday when we did the crossing but we did not feel rushed or crowded. The weather was perfect, slightly cloudy and cool, but no rain.
“We were lucky to be walking on the east lane of the bridge so we had clear views of the Forth Road Bridge and the iconic Forth Rail Bridge, and could also see Edinburgh further down the coast. It was fascinating to see the bridges from a completely different perspective having crossed them both by road and rail hundreds of times over the years.
“The Queensferry Crossing is a beautiful structure and designed to allow a seamless journey over the Forth being contiguous with the M9 in both directions.”
From a professional standpoint Mehdi, a director of a company involved in project and construction management, was ‘very impressed’ with the engineering of the structure which is the longest three tower cable-stayed bridge in the world.
Vicky said she particularly liked the design of the cables which attach to the three towers. “They have a clean, sharp outline which looks very modern and timeless,” she said. “An hour was allowed for everyone to cross. We took our time, stopping to admire the views and take photographs so we made the most of it.”
They set out to raise another £500 from the Queensferry Crossing event and currently the total has topped £790.
