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Corrie MND story inspires 14,000km wheelchair push

Hatty Nash
BBC News, Derby
Billy Whiston Billy Whiston is standing with his wheelchair in front of the Sydney Opera House, at the start of his journey.Billy Whiston
Billy Whiston is walking around Australia, starting and finishing at the Sydney Opera House

A plotline from Billy Whiston's "guilty pleasure" TV show put the wheels in motion for his epic journey Down Under.

In April 2024, a storyline involving Coronation Street character Paul Foreman living with motor neurone disease (MND) inspired Billy to raise money for MND charities by pushing a wheelchair around Australia's coast.

The full journey is more than 8,948 miles (14,400km), which Billy started on 3 March and expects will take a year to complete.

The 25-year-old, from Glossop in Derbyshire, says he loves watching the long-running soap with his mum.

Coronation Street/ITV Actor Peter Ash portraying the character Paul Foreman in the ITV soap Coronation Street. The character is sat on a sofa in a kitchen staring at a screen. Coronation Street/ITV
Actor Peter Ash won a National Television Award in 2024 for his portrayal of Paul Foreman in ITV's Coronation Street

In 2024, Billy said he knew he wanted to take on a challenge but was not sure what it would be.

Then, one night with his family, while Coronation Street was on the television in one room and rugby league in the other, a conversation at half-time gave him the inspiration he needed.

"At the time, Peter Ash was playing Paul who had MND in the show. My mum started talking about how good he was at acting it," Billy said.

In the show, Paul was diagnosed with MND and the storyline concluded with his death from the disease in September 2024.

"It got us talking about MND that evening. And because we were watching the rugby too, I said, 'that's what Rob Burrow had' - and my dad brought up Doddie Weir," Billy said.

"We were having this conversation about how terrible it was, and it was in that moment that I had this plan.

"I said, 'what if I push a wheelchair around Australia for MND":[]}