Jack Aldous-Fountain
Off to the Iceshelf for BLESMA
Fundraising for Blesma The Limbless Veterans
Story
OPERATION: Raising Awarness and Funds for the British Limbless Ex-servicemen Association ( BLESMA!! )
Hi my name is Jack Aldous Fountain, I am a 14 year old student at Monmouth Haberdashers. Together with my Mum, Emma we are, in the next few months about to embark on an expedition of a life time. A trip that will take us to the wildest most barren and isolated frontiers in the world, the Patagonian ice cap. Our reasons for doing this are to raise money and awareness for BLESMA (British Limbless Ex Service Mans Assocation).
Please know that BLESMA is the charity that directly supports all our service men and women who lose limbs, the use of limbs or eyes or the sight of an eye in the service of our country and we are with them all whenever we are needed for the rest of their lives. Our work starts with rehabilitation - proving that there is life after amputation. Our work is about amputee helping amputee - the fellowship of shared experience. Our work is about life long welfare support, about campaigning for what they deserve and about being there when old injuries come back to haunt. Our youngest Member is 19 and our oldest is 99 - Truly we are BLESMA for Life. It is our intention to traverse part of the Patagonian Ice field, one of the worlds most inhospitable wildernesses. We will attempt to summit two of the highest mountains in Patagonia, Cerro Gorra Blanca and Mariano Moreno. Unlike the Alps it is not altitude that will be our challenge , the weather is the great unknown in Patagonia.
We will be totally dependent on ourselves, our equipment, our guides and our determination as a team to succeed. What is unusual about this trip and probably what will make it even more rewarding is that we will be taking with us 2 BLESMA members, John Jones who is an above the knee amputee & has a disabled arm and Ibi Ali, who is currently serving in the forces in the Yorkshire Regiment, he is a right arm amputee They are attempting this expedition with no real knowledge as to what will happen to their prosthesis or their stumps in the extreme weather conditions.We will be a trip in our entiriety of approx 11 people and will take up to 16 days. We will have four guides who are all local to Patagonia and whose knowledge of the ice cap and the surrounds of Argentina are infinite.In order to get as much publicity for our trip and awareness for BLESMA we are hoping to get a small production crew to join us and to document our journey. This is in its very early stages and to date has not been confirmed, fingers crossed though, the more people know the more donations.
Due to the nature of our expedition we will use ice axes, snow shoes, crampons and make snow walls. We will pitch tents in the roaring winds and coldest temperatures it will be the experience of a life time!
This is the first time we have embarked on such an expedition and indeed hope it will be the first of many. We are asking you, can you help us in our quest to raise money for BLESMA? What do you say……..