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7 March 2012 - Have just returned from hospital and have had my leg bones screwed back and a tightrope fitted inside my tibia and fibula to hold them in place. Rest and red wine! Was it all worth it? Definitely! I've raised nearly £4,0000 for the Alzeimer's society (the team has raised over £100,000) and I had the experience of a lifetime with some wonderful people. Thank you all for your most generous support. 1 March 2012 - Reached the summit, Uhuru Peak 5895m at 6:45 a.m. after a glorious sunrise of blazing orange and red. Wow, what an achievement! Unfortunately about an hour into the descent I slipped and broke my leg. Had to be evacuated from about 5,000m to the bottom of the mountain by hand...in a record 5 hours! Initially I had thought that I had just snapped my the medial malleolus from the bottom on my tibia. However back in the UK I discovered that I also have a spiral fracture at top of fibula (a maisonneuve fracture apparently). I had thought that there was something wrong just below my knee as it was quite tender but I hadn't realised that it was broken there too! Tough as nails, eh? On 23 February 2012 I will set off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer Scotland. The money will fund research into the causes of dementia, roadshows highlighting the issues around dementia, and support for sufferers, their families and carers. Dementia affects the lives of many people in the UK today, not just the elderly. Improved understanding of this condition is something we may all be grateful for later in our lives. Perhaps it is relevant to your life at the moment, as many of us have had relatives who have been affected, such as my wife’s grandmother, who did not recognise her family and was unable to communicate for several years prior to her death in her early 70s. Together with colleagues, I will be scaling the 5,896m peak over seven days. I’ve never climbed a “real” mountain before so it will be a huge personal challenge (although not as much as the personal challenge facing my wife, who will be alone with the two under-fives for 11 days!). So, please, please, give as generously as you can and forward on the link to my JustGiving page to your friends, colleagues and companies who may also feel able to support this vitally important cause. Thanks for visiting my JustGiving page. You can find out more about dementia at these websites: <a href="http://www.alzheimers-tesco.org.uk/">http://www.alzheimers-tesco.org.uk/</a> <a href="http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/">http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/</a> <a href="http://www.alzscot.org/">http://www.alzscot.org/</a>

Richard's Kilimanjaro Trek

Richard's Kilimanjaro Trek

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