My friend Graham invited myself and two other ex-work colleagues to take part in a Trek to Everest Base camp. Perhaps foolishly we all said yes. Looking at the photo from right to left is Graham, Neil, Simon and myself. It has been challenging to make time to do the necessary training to give me a fighting chance of scaling a mountain to an altitude of 5,500 metres, with the inherent risk of suffering altitude sickness. The trek is spread over a two-week period to help us acclimatise to the high altitude.

Since we are undertaking this big challenge, it would be nice to raise some funds for charity. There are a few charity sectors which are close to my heart, so I have decided to split the funds raised between 5 charities as follows:

Dementia Charities - Dementia UK and Race Against Dementia in support of my mum’s deteriorating condition;
Cancer Charities – Woking and Sam Bear Hospice in memory of my wife and BriansTrust in memory of my friend John Perkins
And the Kidney Research Charity in support of our Graham who had a kidney transplant a few years ago.

This is the story behind the charities selected.

Dementia
My mum has been suffering from Dementia for at least 2 or 3 years now. We have gone through some difficult times, particularly when mum had the aggressive form of dementia. That aggressive response fortunately has subsided now, and we have been fairly lucky that until the latter part of 2023 since mum still recognized myself and my two sisters. Sadly, on Christmas day, for the first time, mum did not recognize myself or my two children. It has been very sad to see how this cruel disease has slowly caused mum to deteriorate.

One of my sisters has used the helpline from Dementia UK and found them extremely helpful in providing expert knowledge and advice on how to deal with Dementia.
Race Against Dementia was founded by Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, after his wife Helen’s frontotemporal dementia diagnosis. They provide funds for targeted research to accelerate progress towards treatments that prevent or ultimately provide a cure for dementia.
Cancer
Many of you will know that my wife died of cancer 8 years ago after fighting this horrible disease for 2 ½ years. I was very much against Chris going into a hospice as we had seen the outcome when both of her parents had also passed away due to cancer. The care of the nurses in the Woking and Sam Beare hospice was amazing and somehow they made a terrible situation bearable. We have already raised quite a lot of funds for the charity, but I feel that we should continue support this fantastic organisation.

A couple of years ago my very good friend John Perkins passed away due to a Brain tumour. We first met at cub scouts and have been friends ever since. I have been very lucky to have a very close group of friends from the Sidcup area where I was brought up, who have all collectively had a strong friendship and respect for John. It feels like brain cancer is under represented in the charity sector so I would like to give our support to the brain trust.

Kidney Research
Our Everest trekking team leader is Graham White. A few years ago, at quite short notice he had to have a kidney transplant. That is a major operation and was followed by a long process of recuperation. The fact that Graham has gone on to conquer several mountains and is now aiming to reach his highest peak to date at Everest Base camp, is testament to what can be achieved through determination to live life to the full. By supporting the Kidney research charity, we can give others the chance to do the same.