Grief will do the wildest things to people. One man, in a fit of sorrow, decided to hike 70 miles with a fridge on his back to honour a deal with his dead wife.
When Matt Jones received a new hip, he was told that he would have to rest up for some time. The surgery was invasive, and the bones take time to heal. However, nobody tells Jones what to do. He was a hiker, and nothing stood between him and his hills.
“The surgeon was telling me I had to slow down and I would cause further damage to other parts of my body if I did not listen,” Jones said on a fundraising page for his 70-mile fridge hike. His dearly departed wife backed him up in the surgery. “Vicky was sitting in the corner of the room laughing while telling the surgeon, ‘You might as well talk to a brick wall!”
Jones had already completed the hike he eventually did with a fridge on his back. In fact, his wife had boasted to the doctors about how badly he messed up his body the last time, too. Previously, he had suffered a fractured ankle and lacerated his Achilles during the 35-mile walk, and completed it anyway. I am sure the surgeon was overjoyed to hear that his hard work was about to be ridden roughshod over.
His late wife joked that, despite the warnings of the doctor, he would do it again. “I replied, ‘I will do it twice with a fridge freezer on my back!!!”
Then his wife died.
Keeping Weird Promises
The death of his wife had left him with four children to take care of. According to Jones, initially, the hike with the fridge was just an inside bet with his family. But, as people started to notice him training in the Welsh hills, it garnered attention.
“People were starting to talk, saying, ‘Have you heard about this guy up in the mountains with a fridge on his back?’ Then it got to a point where I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore,” he said. So, he decided to make the promise he planned to keep with his wife into a chance to raise money.
Publicising his 70-mile hike over the Welsh mountains, Jones managed to raise $68,000 for a children’s hospice. The monstrous walk took him over 15,000 feet in elevation gain and lasted for 36 hours, all with an 80-lb fridge on his back.
I imagine he needs a new pair of hips and spine after that.