88-year-old defies heart surgery to walk 21,000km, Henry strides for life

Alex de Vos
An 88-year-old Bell Park man has walked the equivalent of around Australia to avoid another round of open-heart surgery.
Determined to maintain his high level of fitness, Henry Cieciuria started walking around his backyard and the streets of Bell Park after surgery on his heart in 2004.
Mr Cieciuria, who arrived in Australia from Poland more than 50 years ago, kept up his routine of daily walking for five years, regularly increasing the number of steps.
By March this year Mr Cieciuria had clocked up 21,000km on his pedometer – equivalent to the circumference of Australia.
“Every day I walk,” he told the Independent in his strong Polish accent.
“One day I walked from Bell Park to Corio Village and back home via Ford – I love to walk and I love keeping fit.
“I’ve also walked from Bell Park to Geelong and back.”
Mr Cieciuria’s walking feats inspired daughter Irene Sawkins to begin tracking his progress.
“After he had walked about 1000km I said to him ‘Dad, you’ve walked the distance from Melbourne to Sydney’, so we got the map of Australia out and I started tracking him,” Ms Sawkins said.
“From then on he was determined to walk the whole circumference of Australia.”
Ms Sawkins described her father as “inspirational”.
“He is so fit and healthy and loves doing it,” she said.
“One day he walked 31km – he’s just amazing.
“After watching dad and seeing how fit he is I’ve been inspired – I’ve even started walking to work.”
Mr Cieciuria, who has lived in Geelong most of his life, said he achieved his goal of walking the distance of around Australia wearing the same pair of running shoes.
“The shoes have a very long life,” he laughed.
Mr Cieciuria said he would continue walking without a target distance in mind.
“My doctor told me not to stop,” he said.
“My doctor said I’m the best man in Geelong – the fittest.
“He said there was nothing wrong with me now.”