A couple of months ago Ray Edwards, invited me to join him in a mission to climb the world’s tallest free standing mountain, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in September 2010.  After thinking about it for all of 2 seconds I accepted!  The party of 25 will include amputees, prosthetists, physiotherapists and others.   He hopes to raise to raise the profile of civilian amputees whilst raising funds for charity. 

Ray became a quad amputee in 1987 and through his passionate and restless work has helped to provide inspiration to amputees worldwide.  This will be a monumental challenge for all and likely to be the most strenuous thing we ever do. 

Since qualifying from the University of Salford in 2003 I have worked as a prosthetist for the last 7 and a half years, first at Crystal Palace and since 2007 at Roehampton.  I have worked with all levels and all ages of amputees and people with limb deficiencies from all over the world, I feel I have an idea of the challenges they face every day.  I have been fortunate to work with amputees whose goals include playing golf, lawn bowls, cycling, swimming, volleyball, football and even completing a 10km competitive run.  More commonly we focus on more modest goals whether it is to allow a father to carry his young daughter without fear of falling, walking to the shops or even to allow someone to stand at the bar with his mates!

 
Further details of the Kilimanjaro climb can now be found on the website here:

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