Chris Brannigan: the Barefoot Soldier

That this House congratulates Chris Brannigan (also known as the Barefoot Soldier) on his upcoming completion of a barefoot walk from Land’s End to Edinburgh to raise funds for the research and development of a ground breaking gene therapy treatment for the rare genetic condition, Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS); notes that Chris’ daughter, Hasti, suffers from CdLS and has inspired his quest to fundraise for treatment; notes that in March 2020 Chris set up a charity, CdLS Hope for Hasti, with the aim of funding the research and development of a ground-breaking gene therapy treatment for CdLS; further notes that, to this end, since Monday 6th July Chris has been walking the 700 miles from Land's End to Edinburgh while wearing heavy equipment, carrying 25kg of kit on his back, and - most importantly - completely barefoot; understands that on 12th August 2020 Chris walked through Midlothian on his way to his end point at Edinburgh Castle; congratulates Chris on beating his target fundraising amount of £300,000; points out that one in three of all children with a rare disease never live to celebrate their fifth birthday and 95 per cent of all rare diseases have no treatment; and applauds all those who work to treat rare diseases and undertake research and development in this field.