St Michael’s Hospice and its sister hospice in Muheza, Tanzania, have been linked together for the past twenty years. The inspiration for establishing the African hospice in 2002 was the wonderful work that was already being done in Hereford at St Michael’s. The need for palliative care was just as great in Tanzania as in the UK but there was very little provision for those with terminal illnesses.

Over those twenty years both hospices have provided much needed palliative care to thousands of patients, and both need charitable funding in order to continue this work.

Twenty years is also an anniversary for me as I started working as a doctor at St Michael’s twenty years ago. I will be retiring in December 2022, and to celebrate and support the vital work of both hospices I will be spending some time at Muheza Hospice in January 2023 and I will also be raising funds by attempting to climb Kilimanjaro.

Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, at 5895 metres, situated quite close to Muheza on the Tanzanian border. Altitude sickness is a significant risk and many people do not succeed in reaching the summit. I will be hiking over seven days to increase my chance of acclimatisation but I realise that this will still be a major challenge for me.

Please support generously. Any funds raised will be shared between the two sister hospices.