Alcohol often has a lot to answer for, and hangovers often manifest themselves in different ways, however for us, an evening in the pub led to an altogether different outcome - a plan was hatched to take on the mighty Kilimanjaro, in so doing, raising funds for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Addenbrooke’s

I have known my good friend Tom since we were at play school together, and we have often talked of reaching the roof of Africa, but finally over one of our regular drinks sessions in The Black Bull, Balsham, we decided that the time was right to bite the bullet.  Numerous meetings followed as we mulled over the many worthy causes we could raise money for, but pretty quickly a short list had been drawn up, and within days we had settled on the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.

The PICU, who are partially funded by the ACT, are currently looking to fund a series of new ventilator units, known as ‘Trams’, and have offered us the opportunity to name the ‘Tram Stop’ if we are able to fund the purchase of at least one of them.  The units use skin probes, thus negating the need for needles, but furthermore, they monitor CO2 levels on an ongoing basis, displaying the statistics on the screen above the bed, in so doing freeing up valuable time spent by nurses going to and from the gas station to analyse samples.  On a tour of the unit, we felt humbled beyond compare - meeting the staff and the patients and their families really brought home to us the incredible strength and determination of all concerned.  The visit truly cemented our choice of beneficiary, and, if motivation were needed, we now had it in abundance. 

And so, the trip is booked - no going back now.  On the 13^th July this year we fly out to Tanzania to begin our challenge.  At 19,341 feet, it is Africa’s highest mountain and furthermore it is amongst the highest freestanding mountains in the world.  The climb offers many challenges beyond the obvious physical one, the altitude, high and low temperatures, and occasional high winds make it a difficult and dangerous trek. Acclimatisation is essential, and even then most people suffer some degree of altitude sickness, and around 10 climbers die from this each year, together with an unknown number of local porters.  All climbers will suffer considerable discomfort, typically shortage of breath, hypothermia and headaches, and though many young, fit people can make the Uhuru summit, a substantial number of trekkers will abandon the attempt at a lower altitude.

Our Target:

Our challenge, really, is two-fold, with the obvious physical challenge to come  in just a week's time, we have first been focussing our attentions on fundraising, and with the ambitious aim of raising £10,000, this too has been no mean feat , to date we have raised around £6000.  A proportion of this will go towards the costs of the trip but the lions share will go directly to the PICU.  We held a hugely successful fundraising evening of live music with a charity auction at the end of last year which gave our campaign a massive kick start, but we need to push forwards, and continue to attract support as well as creating awareness of the vital role the charity plays.  As we embark on this adventure, evening sessions on the beer are swapped for cycle rides and runs.  It is in earnest that the training goes on; after all, we still have a few months to go…

If you would like to contribute to our campaign, please visit our online donation page at http://www.justgiving.com/Martin-and-Toms-climb-and-punishment Alternatively, I can be contacted by email at martin.millard@cheffins.co.uk   

On behalf of Tom and myself, and of course the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, I thank you for your generous support.