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Following on from last year's trek up Mt Kilimanjaro, Amanda and I are at it again tackling the Yorkshire 3 Peaks followed by the 3 National Peaks (Ben Nevis, Sca Fell and then Snowdon in the dark!) over a long weekend from 18 to 21 August. It will be a massive test of stamina and willpower…..plus we all know Amanda hates walking up mountains, so it will be quite a test and there will be plenty of tears!! 

Here is our plan.....if you fancy joining us on any of the peaks, please shout!!!

Day 1 - Friday 18 August: We start with the Yorkshire 3 Peaks – Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. A total ascent of 5,200 feet and distance of 24 miles. This should take us about 11 hours! After finishing, we drive immediately up to Scotland. A very long day!

Day 2 – Saturday 19 August: we climb Ben Nevis with a total
ascent of 4,265 feet and distance of nearly 11 miles. We then drive to Sca Fell.

Day 3  - Sunday 20 August: we climb Sca Fell with a total ascent of nearly 3,000 feet and a distance of 5 miles. We then drive to Snowdon for a night ascent, starting at around 3am!! We hope to hit the summit at sunrise, before making our way back down….and collapsing!! Snowdon is a total ascent of 2,400 feet and distance of 6.5 miles.

We figure that doing something so physically challenging is the only way to do justice to people suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), the ruthless and destructive illness that prevents them from taking a walk to the end of their garden, never mind up a mountain.

We are very keen for people to know the truth about the
debilitating and life changing illness of ME. There are over 17 million known sufferers worldwide and 250,000 in the UK alone. 10% are young children. 25% have severe ME, which means they are virtually bed bound, suffering from extreme physical exhaustion, dizziness, vertigo and nausea as well as severe head and joint pain and intermittent paralysis. ME is essentially a neurological illness, and for many, any light, sound or touch to their body triggers excruciating pain, so they have to live in a world of darkness and
silence without even the comfort of a hug from their loved ones. Many also suffer from respiratory and digestive problems, and some, eventually intestinal failure. Unbeknown to many, ME does kill, often, and what a slow painful death it is as every part of your body gradually shuts down.

Dr Kilmas spends half her clinical time working with patients with HIV and half with severe ME sufferers. She said “if I had to
choose between the two illnesses, I’d rather have HIV. A severe ME sufferer effectively feels the same every day as an AIDS patient feels 2 months before death. The only difference is that the symptoms can last decades.”

ME as an illness is not taken seriously by many in the
medical profession, many write it off as being psychological, which to any true ME sufferer is a total insult. There is no known cause, no effective treatment and no cure. There is no official funding either, which is why we want to help the charity Invest in ME, as these guys are raising money to build and fund a biomedical research centre to focus purely on finding a cure for this horrific illness. Every penny they receive goes towards this work as the charity is run by volunteers, many of whom are ME sufferers themselves or parents of children who have ME.

The stories we have been told by parents who are helplessly
watching their child be consumed by the horrors of ME are quite frankly heart wrenching. They are so incredibly grateful that we are trying to help them by raising awareness of this illness and joining the fight to raise money to help find a cure.

If you could help us to help them.....we would be eternally grateful! Thanks for reading and please keep your fingers crossed for us!! We are not fit enough to be doing this challenge, nor have we done an appropriate amount of training.....but we won't fail our family members who suffer from ME, nor the thousands of others who rely on those who can, to actually do something to help!

Thanks! 

Richard and Amanda

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