Kelly taking on gruelling winter step challenge for tinnitus charity

Kelly Rowley, 38 from Maryport, Cumbria has challenged herself to walk over 60 miles in a month in support of the British Tinnitus Association (BTA), a charity that has helped her manage her tinnitus, a debilitating condition that affects around 55,000 adults in Cumbria alone and one in eight adults throughout the UK.

Kelly reached out to the BTA Tinnitus Support Team for support and advice on how to manage her tinnitus. She shared: “I have suffered with severe intrusive tinnitus for nearly 10 years now. It impacts on me massively and over the last two years it has made me severely depressed. It’s a complex condition that not many understand, and it's taken me a long time to adapt to it along with my sudden hearing loss. It is a debilitating condition and really hard to live with.”

“Last year I hit a real hard place with my health, both physically and mentally, and tinnitus was one of the root causes. After speaking with my GP, they decided I would do a small exercise activity each day to help me. At first, I was scared to actually do this. I had gone from a sociable person and very active to battling hearing loss and tinnitus, which has totally changed my life. I was scared of living and had withdrawn from everything and thought exercise would be impossible, that's how bad depression and tinnitus had me.”

Kelly’s challenge has been made harder by having to isolate because of Covid-19, but she is on track to finish the challenge during the BTA’s Tinnitus Week, which begins on 7 February.

The British Tinnitus Association’s vision is “A world where no one suffers from tinnitus” which Kelly fully supports. She is hoping that her step challenge will get people talking about tinnitus and raise the funds along the way to make sure people can access the support they need now, and fund future tinnitus research, to ultimately find a cure.

The British Tinnitus Association Fundraising Officer Jess Pollard commented “Kelly has overcome so much in the last couple of years and we’re so grateful that she is now able to use her own experience to support others and to keep raising awareness!”

Please support Kelly and help her smash her fundraising goal by donating at to get involved? Visit tinnitus.org.uk/step-challenge to take part in your own step challenge.

The British Tinnitus Association is an independent charity and the primary source of information for people with tinnitus. It helps to facilitate an improved quality of life for people with tinnitus through a range of support options including support groups, a helpline and its website, while also taking steps to bring forward the day when tinnitus is cured. The charity works to inform and educate medical professionals and the community on what tinnitus is and how to manage it. The British Tinnitus Association wants “a world where no one suffers from tinnitus”. It wants to find better ways to manage tinnitus and, ultimately, to help find a cure. In 2020, the publication of its Tinnitus Manifesto led to more than 120,000 people signing a petition for more funding for tinnitus research to find cures.

Tinnitus Week runs from 7-13 February 2022. Social media assets are available, and during the week a new edition of ‘That Tinnitus Podcast’ will be available, and a new report published. More details are available from Nic Wray (under embargo).