Adrian Rafferty
Jacob Rafferty Mount Snowdon Challenge,,,JOB DONE, MOUNTAIN CONQUERED!!
Fundraising for Spinal Research
Story
Jacob Rafferty
Please scroll to the bottom for the post event summary..
Who are we?
Myself and my Wife Emma, are both serving Police Officers within the Metropolitan Police Service, we both work for the Territorial Support Group (TSG) based at Catford in South East London. Adrian is an ex serviceman whom was a gunner with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery. We have 5 children together.
A little about Jake
Jacob was 8yrs old when he was diagnosed with a
Tumour inside his spinal cord. The tumour covered 8 out of 12 vertebrae. The
prognosis was that without immediate intervention then Jake would die. In January 2012 Jake endured 11 hours of life
changing surgery to remove the tumour from within his spinal cord. Jake spent 4
months in hospital, however, the operation left him paralysed from the chest down. He now faces the prospect of life confined to
a Wheelchair.
The Future for Jake is a little uncertain; he still endures several MRIs a year and has the prospect of another major spinal operation in the summer to straighten his crooked spinal column. Despite this, he is back at school and attends wheelchair rugby each week, where he has represented The Medway Dragons Wheelchair Rugby team in a national competition. He loves playing Xbox, reading and still finds time to be a little “so-and-so” much the same as any other 11yr old.
Emma and I are still learning, about life with a disabled child but the main thing is the importance of family, friends and colleagues, all of whom have gone out of their way to assist us.
Jacob Chose Spinal Research as the charity that he wished to raise money for, He often acknowledged that so many others had done so much to assist both himself and his family through these difficult times, that he wished to give something back. This particular Challenge for Jacob will be the second major Mountain that he has to climb, the first was coping with being paralysed, however, he is a good way up that particular climb.
WE DID IT!! Mission Acomplished
The challenge is complete!! We are all extremely tired, aching but overjoyed. We arrived at Bala in Wales after a horrendous 7hr car journey (traffic), where the team all met up, after a safety briefing by one of the 4 mountain leaders (ML, it was time for a quick bite to eat and a very quick beer, (Jake had coke) then bed. We were all up at around 445am for breakfast and loaded all the equipment, setting off for Mount Snowdon in a small convoy at 6am. The journey took around an hour.
The ascent started at 7.35, with a slight drizzle, there are several paths to use to ascend the mountain, and we were advised to use the Llanberis path. Shortly after our commencement, the heavens opened and we were met with horizontal rain and strong winds from the off. Jake was a real trouper, he insisted on operating the chair where he could, and always had control of the brakes and the steering, The team of mules, (all police officers from the Territorial Support Group) took it in turns to assist Jake, we would have a person pushing on the rear T-bar, which resembled a bicycle handle bar, and this steadied jakes progress, we also had 2 mules in front, whom had ropes attached to the front of the chair, plus 2 supporters on the sides. As we approached large rocks, boulders or particularly steep loose shale areas, the guys would lift the chair with Jake, above or around the obstacle. The Guys would rotate around, to ensure some respite during the climb. Jacobs’s 9yr old sister Jessica also joined us for the challenge, she did a sterling job, scouting ahead as a route finder with one of the MLs to try and avoid obstacles or more challenging terrain. We were (it appeared) the only people on the mountain, the only observers being the local sheep. We reached the small cafe which is half way, after around an hour and a half, as we had a short break, the cafe owner appeared and informed us that she had heard of our challenge on the local radio station, she wished us well and we headed for the second and much more challenging terrain, we were now meeting very steep and rocky terrain, all of us were soaked to the skin, but physically warm due to the exertion.
The final ascent was breathtaking (literally) not only were we all tired, but the cloud we had been climbing in, began to open, and we all had to stop, and take in the outstandingly beautiful views of Snowdonia National Park, we were informed that we were around 25mins from the summit. With a renewed vigour, we began our final push, we were receiving waves of encouragement from the passengers on the Snowdon Train which had now started service and finally we reached the summit cafe. But still not THE top. Myself and Emma now lifted Jacob in our arms, and, accompanied by our daughter jess, we negotiated the final stone steps up the actual Stone monument point, marking the 1058 meters we were on, Jake was able to sit on top of the monument, where all four of us took a very short, and emotional break, plus a photo opportunity. All our friends who had helped us, gave Jake a big cheer, I am certain that the wet on people’s cheeks wasn’t just down to the rain. We then clambered down to the cafe, where we all took a well earned break, change of clothes and a bite to eat. It was here that Neil, our lead ML informed us that he had initially planned for a 4 or 5 hour climb, we had completed it in 2hrs and 50mins! This will now require a bit of investigation, but to my knowledge, the quickest ascent of Snowdon in a wheelchair was made by the Backup charity at the beginning of July, when they recorded a time of 3hrs and 18minutes, if this is the case, then I believe we have set an unofficial world record, beating theirs by 28mins.
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