- Jon’s dad was diagnosed with motor nuerone disease, which led to him first losing his voice then losing function in his legs
- When his dad passed away, Jon realised how much he’d taught him not to take mobility and communication for granted
- An avid traveller, Jon knew he wanted to raise funds for MND charities to help people like his father but wasn’t sure how he’d do it
- During a trip around the Galapagos Islands, Jon stopped at a tiny island and discovered an old whiskey barrel that acted as a postbox
- Travellers from all over leave postcards in the postbox in the hopes it would someday reach their intended recipient
- Jon Beardmore, from New Plymouth, NZ, shares how he made it his mission to become a global postie, hand delivering postcards from the island around the world, whilst raising awareness and funds for MND…
My phone buzzed with a call and I smiled to see it was my father ringing from New Zealand.
I’d been living in London for years, but my dad Eric, 73, and I chatted regularly.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” he said. “I’ve been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.”
“Right,” I said, shocked.
He said the rare condition would progressively affect parts of his nervous system, causing muscle weakness.
“They say I’ve got about two years,” he added.
It was hard to believe. It was 2014 and I’d recently done an adventure driving from London to Malaysia and back again. Dad had met me in Kuala Lumpur and seemed totally fine.
I went back to Taranaki, NZ, to see him and continued to return regularly.
He lost his voice first, and communicated via text on his phone. Then he started to lose the function of his legs.
His partner, Suzanne, became his carer.
He was still around in 2021 and I went to visit.
I could be gone by next year, he told me via text.
“You’ve said that every year, mate,” I chuckled as we drank a beer together. “You’re conning me!”
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But in October 2022, I was by his side when he took his last breath.
I’ve always been an adventurer and had travelled the world while working as a commercial storyteller, helping companies with new bid proposals, and living as a digital nomad.
When Dad died, I decided to raise funds for MND charities but wanted to think of an original way of doing it.
In January 2023, I went to Colombia and Ecuador on holiday. While on a cruise around the Galapagos Islands, we stopped at a tiny island called Isla Floreana.
There was nothing there but an old whiskey barrel that acted as a postbox.
From 1793, sailors on long journeys began leaving letters in the postbox, hoping they’d be collected by passing ships on their way back to England or the USA.
“Now, travellers do the same thing,” our tour guide told us. “You can look through the postbox and see if there are any addresses near to where you live. You can take them and either hand deliver or post them.”
We all went through the 300-odd postcards and took a few home to hand deliver.
When I rang the doorbell in West London, an old lady came out looking bemused.
“I’ve got a postcard for you from the Galapagos Islands,” I said.
I showed it to her and her face lit up. “This is from my son’s girlfriend,” she said.
She was so thrilled to receive it by hand and I knew I was onto something.
I called my project The Galapagos Postman and set myself the challenge of hand delivering 50 postcards across the world in 12 months, raising funds and awareness for MND along the way.
In March 2024, I flew back to Galapagos and collected 50 letters from the postbox.
I randomly selected destinations from all seven continents. I also chose ones that sounded interesting because I could read the back of the postcards.
My first delivery was to a woman called Juliette in Quito, Ecuador. It was addressed to a pizza restaurant that Juliette always went to and was sent from her friend Jaime.
“Do you know a Juliette?” I asked the manager there.
“Sí!” he said excitedly.
I left the card and Juliette contacted me the next day to say she was thrilled.
I travelled to Antarctica, all over the Americas and on to Europe, funding my travel through savings, using air miles and working remotely as I went. It attracted media attention, which in turn raised awareness for MND, and
I had a donations button on my socials and website.
In Mexico, the woman who answered the door looked sceptical until she saw the postcard was from her! She’d addressed it to her mother, who she lived with.
Thank you for letting me follow my dreams, it said.
She invited me in to meet her mum and explained how she’d been volunteering in Galapagos when her mother had taken a fall.
She’d wanted to come back to Mexico but her mother told her to “follow her dreams” instead. We spent the evening drinking tequila and eating dried crickets.
In Napa, California, a triplet had sent a letter to herself and four months later I delivered it on her graduation day. She and her whole family were there and invited me in to celebrate with them.
Paddy in Dublin took me to the pub after I brought a postcard from his son, who’d long since returned home.
There was a poignant moment when I was invited to the hospital bed of one man’s father in China after delivering his letter.
“This has given us so much joy during a time of sadness,” he said. He messaged me to say his dad had passed away hours later.
My adventures took me home to New Zealand for Christmas and then to Africa.
For my final leg, I want followers on my socials, @bigoadventures, to decide my route as I take my last postcards to Europe.
Then, in March, I’ll finish my year of travels and delivery of 50 postcards with a charity fundraiser in London.
So far I’ve raised over $20,000 for MND charities worldwide and I’ve made so many fascinating connections and friendships.
I watched Dad become trapped inside his own body. We all take for granted our mobility and ability to communicate, two things Dad lost because of MND, and two things you really need when you do adventure travel like me.
I know if Dad were still around he’d be proud of me.
He’d say, “Well done son, now let’s have a beer.”
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