Christine Bowen

Christine's Everest Base Camp Trek

Fundraising for British Heart Foundation
£2,173
raised of £1,790 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
everest base camp , 17 March 2011
Participants: Christine Bowen
British Heart Foundation

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We fund lifesaving research to to tackle heart and circulatory diseases

Story

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 17th March (St. Patrick's Day!) 2011  I will be trekking to Everest Base Camp to raise much needed funds for the British Heart Foundation.  The BHF is the nation's heart charity that raises money to fund pioneering research into the causes and treatment of heart disease among men, women and children relying predominantly on voluntary donations to carry out their work.  So, by me taking part in this challenging event will raise substantial funds directly to the charity as well as creating awareness of heart disease and saving lives. 

 I will be trekking at altitude for two and half weeks in the Himalayas with adverse weather conditions and challenging terrain.  The minimum sponsor money requirement is £3,750.  I will be funding £1,960 for my travel and accommodation costs, therefore I need to raise £1,790.  This will be a challenging and difficult trek, but will no doubt be rewarding, memorable and fulfilling.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please donate now and BEAT HEART DISEASE TOGETHER

What an amazing experience - an 'out of this world one' and 'out of body' adventure.  On 28th March at 12.30 p.m. six of us, including myself achieved our ambition of reaching Everest Base Camp.  There were 17 of us when we set out on day 1 of our Nepal Trek.  A fantastic team of people, but we were met with many challenges from day 1, which included being diverted to India on our way to Katmandu because of massive thunderstorm and left on the runway for hours! but what fun.  The group split on the flight from Katmandu to Lukla due to bad weather conditions and no flights, hence group 1 had to continue the trek without the other 'half' for a few days.  One guy poorly so we waited 24 hrs for him to get a bit stronger.  Itinerary therefore delayed.  Two people at different times on the trek had to 'accute mountain sickness' so had  to be helicoptered off the mountain! and at Gorak Shep one guy again sufffering accute mountain sickness' - pulmonary odema had to 'walk down' at night with head torches as we were too high up for a helicopter to land.  So very unfortunate for them all.  Altitude sickness is very real and totally indiscriminate.  As our itinerary was behind there was only a slim chance that anyone would be able to make it to Base Camp and the weather was not favourable.  Six very determined people with two sherpas and trek leader got up in the middle of the night, armed with head torches and in a 'blizzard' started to trek to Base Camp.  The terrain was very challenging, snow, ice, ascents, decents, large boulders, rock faces, and glorius glaciers.  As we had missed an acclimatisation day I had a real thumper of a headache, but nothing was going to stop me.  We spotted the little yellow tents in the distance on the right hand side - Base Camp in site - Bryson's expedition.  It seemed a never-ending pursual, freezing cold, minus 20.  We set foot on Base Camp, very surreal and spent about 40 minutes there, took some pictures and laid stones, prayer flags for loved ones.  I felt very emotional on the way back, whether that was because I could feel my head clearing on decent or just the relief of achieving a very life-time ambition after a gruelling physical and mental challenge, but all of us as a team had a fantastic adventure in our own way and we shared great company and culture amongst the people of Nepal and in particular our 'sherpas' and 'yaks'.

So thank you to everyone who has sponsored me for this event of a life-time and to all my friends who have supported me in their own way.

Namaste x

NEPAL - 'never ending peace and love'

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About the charity

British Heart Foundation

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 225971
Far too many of us have felt the pain of losing someone we love. With your donations, we power groundbreaking cardiovascular research to save and improve lives, bring hope to families, and keep hearts beating across the UK.

Donation summary

Total raised
£2,173.00
+ £28.49 Gift Aid
Online donations
£121.00
Offline donations
£2,052.00

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