Ten years ago, 29 May 2014, my daughter Elizabeth was severely burned in a fire in our home in Qatar. She was six months old. A fault air conditioning unit set fire to her cot and my wife barely got her out alive. Its surprising that there are so few places in the world that can treat a child that young, with that severity of burns. Birmingham Childrens Hospital (BCH) is one of those place and that’s where she was taken.

Its difficult to articulate the level of care that Elizabeth received at BCH. Teams of plastic surgeons and nurses and physiotherapists and anaesthetists spent months putting Elizabeth back together. They literally saved her life, more than once. Some of those professionals still treat her today and have become very close friends with our family.

The injuries that Elizabeth sustained in the fire were devastating. She lost most of her fingers, received full thickness burns to 70% of her body, lost an ear, most of her nose and all her hair. She continues to have regular skin grafts and reconstructive surgeries, over 100 to date. Despite this Elizabeth is the most enthusiastic, resilient and determined 10 year old you could ever hope to meet. Each year she celebrates ‘Survival day’ on 29 May, not the day when she was burned, but the day when she survived.

In 2022 Elizabeth raised over £200,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital to buy a laser machine to treat other children with scars. This was a remarkable achievement for a 7 year old that led to her winning a Pride of Britain Award. Many childrens in Birmingham are now using the laser machine to treat their scaring from burns, trauma or operations.

For this years ‘Survival Day’ I have signed up to climb Kilimanjaro as part of Birmingham Childrens Hospital Kili4Kids campaign. Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa with an elevation of 19,341 feet (5,895 metres) and the Kili4Kids Trek will see a 31-strong group fly to Tanzania in January for the trip. Elizabeth raised £200,000 in 2022 but she’s a lot cuter than me so I have set myself a £20,000 target to contribute to the campaign. Kilimanjaro will be a challenge and I’ll need a lot of training, but I also know that there isn’t much that will stop me getting to the top of that mountain for such a worthy and personal cause. The trip is self funded so anything you are able to donate will go straight to the hospital