I am climbing the Yorkshire Dales 3 Peaks (partly accompanied by my little walking buddy) to raise funds for an EyeGaze Assistive Communication Device for my beautiful niece, Alice, who will be turning two at the beginning of September. Alice suffered a brain injury at birth which has severely impacted her mobility and muscle tone. She has low tone in her trunk and neck which means that her brain struggles to tell muscles in these areas what to do – this is both external and internal so coordinating her diaphragm, vocal chords, tongue and mouth is a huge challenge.

Alice has recently trialled an eye gaze - an amazing piece of technology that allows her to “speak” using her eyes. She can communicate her needs and share her beautiful personality with us. Alice is an amazing, intelligent little girl and Sophie would love to be able to communicate with her cousin!! Eye gaze is an amazing piece of technology which can keep up with Alice’s intellectual abilities and research has shown that early use can assist in the development of speech.

We wish that Alice could have her own eye gaze device, but this piece of equipment can cost between £6-£8k and what little funding is available, can take years to secure. So, we are asking for your help to raise funds. On Saturday 31st August, I will be walking the Yorkshire three-peaks route and Sophie and I together, will be climbing the 505-metre ascent of Pen-y-ghent. We have approximately 12 hours of daylight and anyone who has ever walked with us will know that:-

• Sophie has to stop and pick up “treasure”/litter/interesting stones/woodlice etc. every few metres;

• Sophie requires a snack break every 10 minutes;

• Sophie loves a bench or any excuse to stop for a rest;

• Sophie enjoys nature and will frequently walk in the wrong direction in pursuit of butterflies/birds/sheep/rabbits

Therefore we are not setting a time, just the task of completing the route before it gets dark!

Please support us by donating to Just4Children and help give Alice a voice!