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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">Dear All,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">The Football League’s official charity partner for the 2010/11 season is Marie Curie Cancer Care. The aim is to raise £500,000 to provide 25,000 community nursing hours for terminally ill cancer patients.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">To do my bit, along with Sky Sports Chris Kamara, Swansea City Manager Brendan Rodgers, Aidy Boothroyd, Middlesbrough Chairman Steve Gibson, Daily Mail columnist Des Kelly and 28 others, I will climb Africa’s largest peak Mount Kilimanjaro between the 9<sup>th<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></sup>and the 18<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of June.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">As part of my preparations I will drag myself to the gym 3 times a week, undertake a series of training treks and be inoculated against Hepatitis A, Malaria, Typhoid and Yellow Fever.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">I will spend 8 hours in an economy airline seat to reach East Africa. When we set off we will walk in t-shirts and shorts but by the time we’ve climbed the 19,341 feet to the top it will be minus 20<sup>o</sup>c.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">Along the way we’ll sleep in tents, not wash for a week and go to the toilet in unspeakable circumstances.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">The altitude sickness in the final stages will be so bad that some of us may struggle to reach the summit. For the final 6 hours ascent we’ve been told to expect the feeling of extreme drunkenness and the worst possible hangover at the same time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">I am doing this in memory of my mother who died from cancer at the age of just 58. From diagnosis to death she lasted just 6 months. I have seen at first hand the distress and confusion of a terminally ill patient and their family. I know how important it is that those who are nearing the end are made to feel as comfortable as their situation allows.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">No pressure, but please give as generously as you can and if you can’t, please spread the word.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">Thank you</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;">Clem</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Clemmit is the features reporter on BBC 1’s Football League Show, co-presents BBC Radio 5 Live’s 5 Live Football League and hosts the official npower Football League Podcast </span></span></em></p>
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