As many of you will know in April 2007 my fit, healthy younger brother Richard had a heart attack. As a result of this he was left with an acquired brain injury leaving him with no short-term memory, physical/mobility difficulties and visual problems.
He has been cared for at Daniel Yorath House (DYH) part of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust at Garforth for the last 16 months. There the staff have encouraged, motivated and supported Richard in his rehabilitation. Whilst at DYH Richard took part on several outings and went sailing most weeks. These things helped him in his recovery but cost a great deal of money.
DYH also have some supported houses where the clients are able to spend a short amount of time to assess thier suitability to live independently. Richard has now moved into a supported community house in Kippax where continues to progress in his rehabilitation
This is where my other brother Paul (Richards twin) and I come in.We would like to raise £10,000 to show our appreciation for the help and support they have given to Richard and our family, to help DYH fund the sort of projects mentioned and help other people have the help and support that Richard had.
To do this Paul and I and hopefully Richard in March 2010 are going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It is the highest peak in Africa standing some 5,891.80 metres (19,330 feet) high. The Trek will take 6 days to complete covering some 37 miles, if that wasn’t bad enough we also have to contend with Altitude Sickness and various other tropical nasties!
Obviously the point of this justgiving page is to ask if you could support us by giving a donation, however small, which would help us reach our target of £10,000. Please have a look at Pauls page to see how much he has raised and combine it with my total www.justgiving.com/Paul-Fryer
This will be a massive challenge for us and especially for Richard as he has had little to motivate him over the last few months.
This is obviously something that is not to be taken lightly so we are going to have to train and get fit. I shall be updating my page regularly with my efforts to get fit.
To begin with I started walking before work, at lunchtime and a few evenings. Walking is fine but I also needed to some cardiovascular exercise. This I am doing with the help of a work colleague in the gym at lunchtime.
Now I am not a gym person but I know I need to do it to get as fit as I possibly can.
Week 1 I went on the cross trainer and the stepper for a total of 20 minutes and boy did I know I had done it,
Week 2 was 20 minutes alternating between the stepper and the bike then a climb up 3 flights of stairs 2 at a time and down again, my legs were very shaky by this time and I didn't feel as if I was getting any fitter.
Paul, Richard and I went on trail walk around Bolton Abbey and some of the photos can be seen above.
Week 3 saw a step circuit for 20 minutes and then the dreaded stairs again.
Week 5. I have been told that I need more time in the gym and today spent time on the rowing machine, cross trainer and walking machine. 2 more of my colleagues have taken an interest in getting me fit so I now have 3 personal trainers working on me. No excuse now there will always be someone at work to encourage me to go to the gym. I'm sure eventually I will thank each of them for playing their part.
I have decided that I will not give you a weekly account of what I have been doing as it will not be very interesting. What I will say is that I am going to the gym several times every week as I am determined to get as fit as I can to undertake this challenge.
Well the new year is here and this challenge has suddenly become very real. I had a slight lapse over the christmas period but have now gone back to the gym and have gone by myself with no one to help or encourage me. That in itself is great for me. Training is going well and will hopefully continue to.
None of us know when such life changing events are likely to occur but the impact on the whole family is devastating, making support from places such as Daniel Yorath House invaluable.
Thank you for looking at my page and if you feel you would like to support us by giving a donation it would be very much appreciated. So please dig deep and donate now.
Many thanks from Lesley, Paul & Richard for reading my page and donating
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
Well the climb is done and it was not as described it was much harder physically and emotionally. Paul unfortunately was ill ont he night of the summit trek and was not able to make it, both of us were in tears on the side of the mountain. I made it to Stella Point but my guide would not let me go any further. I was very dissapointed as I needed to make the summit for both Richard and Paul but I had suffered from the altitude from day 1. What kept me going was knowing the amount of money people had donated and how much the clients of DYH would be looking forward to our talk about the trek and knowing that we had made it. So amny other people overcome much more that ours seemed like a small feat to tackle.
Don't forget its not too late to donate. Thank you
