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On October 11th, I will begin a 9 day trek up Kilimanjaro. As someone who bemoans walking up the flight of stairs from my living room to bathroom every time I need to pee, climbing Earth's highest freestanding mountain will be every bit the challenge that it is!

So, here is where I ask for your help... 

Those of you who know me personally may already know that my dad isn't the fittest dad around. If I'm being honest, I don't have that many memories of times when he has been 'fighting-fit': a few vague recollections of scootering along the local promenade, being thrown across his shoulder whilst walking down the high street, and terribly boring golf lessons. The clearest memories, or at least the most recent, all involve either something to do with hospital visits, events carefully planned around dialysis times, or disapproving looks from strangers because I'm arguing with a man in a wheelchair. 

(I would be lying if I insinuated that there were no perks at all. My dad loves being able to park on the double yellows, buy 2-for-1 season tickets to the football and, because the mobility buggy doesn't have breaks - rather dangerously, the wheels stop revolving when you release the accelerator - the deep echo of the elevator walls is quite hilarious when driven in to at 4mph.)

My dad has been a renal patient since 1984, and is currently hoping for his fourth transplant. I would say 'waiting for' but he keeps being taken off of and put back on to the kidney transplant waiting list. For the last eight years, Dad has required dialysis for around 4-5 hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Considering the average life expectancy on dialysis is 5-10 years and approximately 5,300 people are currently on the kidney transplant waiting list already, the numbers are stacking up against us. 

Currently, Dad is recovering from the multiple heart bypass surgery he had in March and is scheduled in for a cataract operation next month. A kidney infection in his late twenties caused kidney failure, which lead to anemia, hypoparathyroidism, spinal cord compression, insomnia, sleep apnea, coronary artery calcification, cataracts. The list goes on (and on and on).

All-in-all, it's easy to see why Kidney Research UK is a charity so close to my heart. 

A lot of what has happened to my dad has been avoidable. If his infection was treated differently all those years ago, his kidneys may not have failed; if his hypoparathyroidism was picked up by doctors early on, he need not have lost 6 inches in height. 'If's are easy, I suppose. 

What I hope to achieve from climbing Kilimanjaro is to raise awareness for kidney infection, kidney disease and kidney failure. There are three million people in the UK with kidney disease right now. It is a silent killer and there is currently no cure. Let's be ambitious and believe that together we really can help change this.

• £10 pays for one hour’s research
  
• £25 pays for one hour for a post-doctoral research
  associate
  
• £50 pays for a day’s consumables for a Kidney Research UK research fellowships

Not only does this research have the potential to positively affect millions of kidney patients, but also their friends and families. It may not seem like much, but if this can save even one body from the same fate as my father's, or save one loved one from the torture of having to sit on the side lines, then it has been a success.

*If the Fundraising Goal is met online, I will be shaving my head.