Hi, I'm Leon Hyland and I'm 10 years old. I am a member of a climbing club and climbing is my favourite hobby!  Recently, our friends lost their 11 year old son called  Benjamin to DIPG, which is a rare type of brain tumour mainly affecting children. Currently,  a child with DIPG faces the same prognosis as a child diagnosed 40 years ago. There is still no effective treatment and no chance of survival. So, much more research needs to be done so this outcome can be changed. I decided I would like to help raise money for Benjamin’s family’s chosen charity, Abbies Army by climbing the equivalent of Mount Snowdon. Each climb is 10 metres up and I will do a total of 108 climbs and it will take me around 5 hours.  

I will be doing this on Friday 16th July at 1 pm at The Reach Climbing Wall, Harrington Way, London, SE18 5NR (pushed back 1 week due to having to self isolate) 

Please read Benjamins story below and help me get to my target so other children and their families do not have to go through what they have. 

Leon x

Benjamin’s Story 

In August 2020, our lives changed forever when Benjamin was diagnosed with DIPG. He underwent 2 major brain surgeries and radiotherapy. He started secondary school in September and loved school so much. Then in December 2020, we received the devastating news that there were now tumours on his spine which resulted in him losing the use of his legs. He had another round of radiotherapy in the hopes to maintain it. Since then things only got worse for Benjamin. He couldn't go to school, he lost the use of his arms and found it difficult to eat. Sadly, on the 23rd March 2021, Benjamin lost his battle to cancer (DIPG). He was so brave, kind-hearted and funny and was taken far too early. He never failed to make people smile and always looked for the positives.