Thanks for taking the time to visit Helen Markey's JustGiving page.  Helen has very bravely decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a childhood epilepsy charity called "Matthew's Friends" in memory of little Niamh Maguire.

She sets off on Sunday morning, 27th June and will be climbing a route called "The Machame".  This is known as one of the more difficult routes up the mountain as it is longer than most others and has steeper uphill & downhill sections. 
 
The route takes 6 days / 5 nights.  There are no huts on this route so she'll be camping at night.  At midnight on the 4th night she will start her attempt to the summit - trekking for approx 16 hours in order to get back off the summit & to camp before sunset. 

Helen's inspiration is a little girl called Niamh who started having seizures soon after she was born and for whom conventional medications didn't work. By the time Niamh reached 1 year old she was having over 100 seizures a day and had suffered huge brain damage.

"Matthews Friends" charity offered her a chance to try a new dietary treatment for epilepsy called a "Ketogenic Diet" and this treatment stopped Niamh's seizures in their tracks which gave Niamh 3 extra years of life and for that time we will all always be grateful.

Please allow this charity to help other children like Niamh. Your money will save lives, so please dig deep and donate now.

To read Niamh's Story please visit: http://www.niamhsjourney.com/