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Speaker 1: My next guess is an incredible territory and she's just

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Speaker 1: come back from Perth where she competed in the Australian

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Speaker 1: Track and Field Championships in the paraclassification. She's a stroke

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Speaker 1: survivor who is proving that life after stroke has no boundaries,

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Speaker 1: and she is set to take on another challenge, the

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Speaker 1: Great Wall of China Trek, in an effort to raise

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Speaker 1: funds for the Stroke Foundation. Her name is Alison Reedy

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Speaker 1: and she joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Ali, Hey, Katie,

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Speaker 1: hell you. I'm really good, lovely to have you on

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Speaker 1: the show. Now. First off, you've just come back from

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Speaker 1: the Australian Athletics Championships. How did you go?

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Speaker 2: It was amazing. I was really happy I got some TV,

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Speaker 2: so that's a nice thing to take away you. I've

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Speaker 2: got to meet some incredible people.

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Speaker 1: I watched you, Ali. I made sure that I watched

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Speaker 1: some of your races. Now, to everybody out there listening,

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Speaker 1: I see Ali very often. She she trains with my

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Speaker 1: daughter and with some other incredible territorians and Ali is fast.

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you so, I made sure I wanted

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Speaker 1: to Ali, and you did so good. It was awesome

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Speaker 1: and look, you are an incredible athlete. And to be honest,

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Speaker 1: when I first met you, I was not aware that

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Speaker 1: you'd actually suffered a stroke. But it is something that

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Speaker 1: every day you live with the invisible disabilities which require

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Speaker 1: careful daily management. Can you tell me a little bit

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Speaker 1: about what happened when you suffered your stroke?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. So normally there are some signs that

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Speaker 2: are warning signs. We in Australia we recognized fast so

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Speaker 2: anything to do unusual with faith, if you have trouble

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Speaker 2: losing your arms, speech, the speech issues and time, so

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Speaker 2: anything that's happening with that, any of those signs that

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Speaker 2: are occurring times of the s and skid triple zero

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Speaker 2: re call. I didn't actually have any of those. I

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Speaker 2: woke up with the worst headache of my life in

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Speaker 2: said twenty twenty two, and as you do, I popped

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Speaker 2: a pain killer. I went back to bed. Later that day,

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Speaker 2: I went to the GP to get a work for

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Speaker 2: it because I wasn't feeling well and just in the

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Speaker 2: waiting room there was this crescendo of issue, so I

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Speaker 2: couldn't see properly. I was feeling sick. I couldn't walk.

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Speaker 2: GP came out, had a quick look and said go

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Speaker 2: to ED. And even on the way, I was saying

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Speaker 2: to my husband, or We're just going to send me

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Speaker 2: home and say you're too stressed. But the fantastic folk

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Speaker 2: at ED did a quick scan and told me what

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Speaker 2: had happened. And it was just surreal to hear that,

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Speaker 2: because there's no way I would ever identify that a

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Speaker 2: stroke had happened.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Ali, And so what happened next? I would imagine

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Speaker 1: that you know, that time in ED turned into further

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Speaker 1: time in the hospital, and and you know, I was

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Speaker 1: sort of working out exactly what damage had had been

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Speaker 1: done throughout that stroke.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. So I was in hospital for those

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Speaker 2: twelve days. I think they were just monitoring to see

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Speaker 2: anything else that happened. All I could tell that had

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Speaker 2: happened was I had some speech issues, so I was

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Speaker 2: slowing my words quite a lot. I wasn't able to

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Speaker 2: test the working bits very well with my body because

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Speaker 2: we had the lockdowns, unfortunately, and were allowed to leave

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Speaker 2: the room after a while. They put me to the

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Speaker 2: physio rehab ward of go in private, and I tended

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Speaker 2: to pass all of those tests, so they sent me home.

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Speaker 2: They weren't really sure to do with me. My GP

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Speaker 2: was awesome and got me signed up for other rehab

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Speaker 2: services and I've just gone from there. So there wasn't

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Speaker 2: a lot of information given, and there wasn't really a

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Speaker 2: lot of understanding for younger stroke people with what could

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Speaker 2: happen and just what the path ahead was. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was not the most fun experience at all.

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Speaker 1: Allie, what's it been like then for you? I mean

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Speaker 1: you touched on then there's not a lot when it

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Speaker 1: comes to young stroke victims. I mean, is that something

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Speaker 1: that you feel quite passionately about then, you know, in

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Speaker 1: terms of making people aware that it really doesn't matter

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Speaker 1: what age you are. I know that that's something I've

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Speaker 1: spoken to another stroke survivor, Richard Crooks about very regularly

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Speaker 1: on this show. He said, you know, Katie, you can

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Speaker 1: beat any age and this can happen, and I think

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Speaker 1: that that's a you know, it's a point that people

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Speaker 1: should understand exactly right.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately doesn't discriminate. You can have babies in utero who

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Speaker 2: have strokes, and for some of us, including myself, there's

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Speaker 2: no obvious cause as to why it can just be

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Speaker 2: bad luck. But with my experience. I was keen to

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Speaker 2: do something to help however I could, so I've started

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Speaker 2: up the Darwin Stroke Social Group. It's a very informal

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Speaker 2: group because there was a need. There was just nothing there.

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Speaker 2: We don't want to just be sitting at home and

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Speaker 2: having nothing to do, so I set up that as

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Speaker 2: a start. The other thing I've done is join this

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Speaker 2: Stroke Foundation on their Lived Experience Panel so that I

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Speaker 2: could help serve as a voice for stroke survivors between

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Speaker 2: government bodies and research institutes, saying just really what the

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Speaker 2: experience is like and our thoughts on your proposal or decisions.

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Speaker 2: So it's been really useful to give back in those ways.

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Speaker 2: And I'm also hoping to advocate for sport and volunteering

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Speaker 2: as another recovery pathway for stroke survivors and a way

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Speaker 2: to engage with the community.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, I mean, I think it's phenomenal what

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Speaker 1: you have done after suffering a stroke. Alie, tell me though,

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Speaker 1: I mean, can it be quite difficult managing managing from

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Speaker 1: day to day? I know that you know, as I

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Speaker 1: mentioned a moment ago, you do live with invisible disabilities

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Speaker 1: which do require that careful daily management.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is quite difficult day today, the most stroke

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Speaker 2: survivors have got really debilitating fatigue. Like it's not just

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Speaker 2: a little bit of I'm a bit tired, it's overwhelming.

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Speaker 2: For some of the you can't even speak properly, or

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Speaker 2: or you just can't remember what you're doing and you're

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Speaker 2: forced to get rest and lie down my invisible disabilities.

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Speaker 2: That's a fatigue. And if that creeps up too much,

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Speaker 2: then I've got mobility and speech and cognitive issues. So

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Speaker 2: I need to look at what I'm doing for the

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Speaker 2: day ahead. I actually plan morning and afternoon. And it

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Speaker 2: is something heavy coming up, then I'll need to make

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Speaker 2: sure I get that rest in just so I can

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Speaker 2: keep on pushing through.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and now taking that into account and everything that

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Speaker 1: you have done and you continue to do, and your

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Speaker 1: next challenge is the Great Wall of China trek Alison

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Speaker 1: Reedie that you are a legend. How are you going

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Speaker 1: to do this? Talk me through it?

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Speaker 2: I have no idea. Look, I thought this come up

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Speaker 2: and the main cause is to fundraise for Stroke Foundation

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Speaker 2: and promote education about stroke, and it's one of those

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Speaker 2: once in a lifetime thing. So my first thought was,

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Speaker 2: well why not. I'm now also realizing some of this

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Speaker 2: deepness of some of these paths. We're going on the

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Speaker 2: sky ladder section of a part of the wall called

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Speaker 2: Jian Shangling, and I guess our rest breaks are some

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Speaker 2: of the Tai tee classes we're going to do, so

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Speaker 2: I'm hoping there's a lot of breaks we can do

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Speaker 2: for photography and buying water or snacks along the way.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm not really sure how it's all going

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Speaker 2: to go, and just thinking of getting through the airport,

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Speaker 2: I've probably bitten off a bit much, but I'll find

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Speaker 2: a way.

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Speaker 1: Not at all. I am sure that you will embrace

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Speaker 1: it like every other challenge in your life, and you know,

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Speaker 1: do it with class and you'll get it done, There's

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Speaker 1: no doubt about that. When are you setting off?

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Speaker 2: So this will be in the last week of May,

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Speaker 2: so I'll be leaving an extra day or two early

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Speaker 2: because not many flights from Darlan and it ends on

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Speaker 2: the Sunday. I think that's the first of June. So

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Speaker 2: it's going to be a full on, a full on

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Speaker 2: journey about eight or nine days and about seven days

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Speaker 2: of trekking along this wall, managing about seven or eight

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Speaker 2: k a day on average.

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Speaker 1: Now how can people support you If they're listening this

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Speaker 1: morning and they think, what an incredible person. I'd like

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Speaker 1: to make a donation or I'd like to support Alison

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Speaker 1: in some way.

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Speaker 2: If anyone wants to support me, that would be incredible.

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Speaker 2: Every little bit helps. If you simply google the Stroke

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Speaker 2: Foundation Great Wall of China in your browser, it's one

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Speaker 2: of the first couple of results that comes up. There

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Speaker 2: is a Stroke Foundation gruts grassroots link which has got

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Speaker 2: a lot of characters after it, So that's why I

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Speaker 2: recommend just searching Stroke Foundation Great Wall of China. You'll

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Speaker 2: see all of the participants and I'm obviously one of

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Speaker 2: the eight. So anything would be incredible if you do

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Speaker 2: want to donate and help a fantastic cause.

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Speaker 1: Well Allison Reedie, Darwin Power Athletes, Stroke Survivor and soon

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Speaker 1: to be Great Wall of China trekker. It is lovely

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Speaker 1: to speak to you this morning. Good on you, Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for joining me on the show.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie so much for having me, and thanks to

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Speaker 2: the listeners as well.

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Speaker 1: Really appreciate it, no worries, it all Good on you, Ali,

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Speaker 1: Thank you