Chloe Hadjimotheou

The Salt Path has been read by millions of people.

Millions more have watched the film.

That's a lot of people being told that if you're dying and you simply try hard enough, if you're prepared to push beyond what you think you can endure, and if you really connect with nature, then you can cure the incurable.

The film and books were watched and read by people who've been diagnosed with CBD and those who've nursed loved ones as they died.

There was just one problem with that.

Do medical miracles happen?

I'm Chloe Hadjimotheou, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, you're listening to The Walkers, The Real Salt Path, Episode 4, The Miracle.

If we're going to talk about walkers, well, John Todd's a walker.

Or rather, he used to be a walker.

These days he walks very slowly with the help of a stick.

Watching him, it's hard to see the man he once was, but I've been chatting to him for months and I've got to know a warm, witty man with a dry sense of humour.

I first visited him at his home near Aldershot last summer and this time round, several months later, I can see a difference.

He's more hesitant when we speak and he takes longer to find the words he wants to say.

Just so you know, we've decided to edit his answers slightly for brevity.

So a few years back, through the haze of lockdown, he wasn't feeling well.

Even after he'd recovered from Covid, something just wasn't quite right.

But it didn't help.

He was continuing to deteriorate.

For most people, finding out you have Parkinson's would be pretty devastating.

But John's quite a stoic guy.