Russ Johnston went on a wild camping trip but never returned home as planned
A heartbroken woman has paid tribute to her brother, a passionate hiker and devoted father-of-three who "loved his kids", after he died unexpectedly at 40 when he failed to return from a three-day hike.
Theresa explained to PA Real Life: “He was on his way back to Leicestershire and he got to Ambleside and stopped for fuel and he’d refilled and went in and paid and when he was stepping into his van, he fell back and just collapsed. It was 5.30pm, people were coming back from work, on the commute, and people out at the petrol station were trying CPR to revive him and they called emergency services, but they just couldn’t get him back.
Theresa said the family found out in “under 10 minutes” that Russ had died, as his ex-partner rang them to explain the shocking news, and the family later discovered exactly what had happened from the police. “He’d been doing 10,000 steps a day and he’d been sending pictures to my mum about how many steps he’d done and how many flights he’d done up, he was trying to make sure he was being active. None of us saw it coming.”“He had a wild sense of humour. He was always trying to push a little bit extra and doing things for the thrill, he enjoyed the Peaks, he enjoyed camping, he enjoyed pushing himself,” she said.
“He spent so much time with so many people that this was his little escape. He’d go out into nature and wild camp, but he would always tell people where he was going and when he was due to come back,” she said.
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