Portsmouth man honoured for his courageous fundraising as he plans to tackle gruelling triathlon

Harley Salter will be attending the awards ceremony in September as a BBC Make a Difference finalist after being nominated by his mum, Vanessa Salter. The event is to celebrate and acknowledge those who have made a difference in other people’s lives.

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Since 2018 Harley has raised around £10,000 to £12,000 for various charities and a large amount of this is put towards charities working to support those with Huntington’s disease.

Vanessa said she was ‘very surprised’ by the news of her son being accepted as a finalist.

Huntington's disease is a main focus for his fundraising, as he has done various events to raise money over the years like races and 50 challenges in 50 days which he completed last year. Vanessa added: ‘I am incredibly proud of that but also the acknowledgement’.

As she shared how the acknowledgement Harley will be receiving from this ceremony, is one which will be well deserved after overcoming ‘not just the physical but the mental challenge’ of completing various challenges like a 5k race. Harley suffers from various disabilities, with having an amputated foot after he suffered from a congenital birth defect and he also suffers with autism, Tourette syndrome ,anxiety, OCD, XYY syndrome and hypermobility.

This makes every challenge he does tougher, however his mum said Harley has a strong attitude of: ‘You set me a target, I'm going to do it’.

Harley’s fundraising work continues, as on July 8 his training for the Superhero series triathlon begins.

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The triathlon will take place in August, at Dorney Lake in Windsor. He will be alongside a group of people including Channel 4’s broadcaster and reporter, Jarrett Bryant. The triathlon will include swimming, walking and cycling. This he will do by being assisted by a knee crutch, knee scooter and a walking bike.

All of these challenges and events Harley partakes in, is all in the hopes to ‘spark’ conversation over the causes he is helping such as raising awareness about Huntington's disease.