Thank you to everyone who has been so generous in helping me raise this money. I summitted on the 28.10.10 at around 8am in the morning after a long and tough walk starting at midnight!. My back ceased and gave out on me at around 2am and with no painkillers and not much more than a shuffle for the remaining 800m up the mountain I managed somehow to find the will-power to proceed. I got back to camp (4500m) around 11am, and then managed to proceed to the bottom camp at around 3000m over the next 4 hours. the longest and most tiring day of 15.5 hours of walking! (and on only 4-5 hours of sleep over the preceeding 5 days!)

it was wonderful being above the coluds for 5 or so days and a truly inspiring and magical morning at the summit. Im not sure I would do it again though.

thanks again for all your support.

Sally

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Now let me tell you a little about why I have sent you this link and why Im fundrasing for the Prostate Cancer Charity.

My father was diagnosed with Prostate cancer at the end of last year. Whilst initially it was thought to be in the relatively early stages, we soon found that it was more advanced, thus limiting a number  of the treatments that he was able to consider. He has successfully been through a round of radiotherpy and various ongoing drug treatments and dietry reccomendations,  and whilst this made him very weak and tired, he has kept the most incredible positivity and approach.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common and there is a very great need to continue research and to making all available treatments and tests to identify this, as early as possible. We were lucky that we have caught this. Now its a waiting game and only time will tell, and of course the ongoing treatments and so forth!

So why Kilimanjaro and what makes this special to me -  well anyone who knows me well knows that whilst I LOVE adventures and going off travelling and exploring, that Im actually quite lazy (read hate getting up in the morning!) and climbing a mountain is exactly that -  "Climbing a mountain", both physically and mentally. I also had a number of injuries at the beginning of the year when skiing (yes one of those adventures I mentioned already) that involved a torn exterior cruciate ligament and some broken ribs, so I decided that the best way to get fit again was to really task myself and do something different. Having a goal was important to me. When I got the opportunity through a friend to join his group, I jumped at the chance immediately, not only to get fit, but to do something that I knew would really test me, push me beyond my usual comfort factors and also an opportunity to give back something on behalf of my father who has supported me so much over the years.

I started training 4 months ago with a range of walking, cycling, runnning, a 'brutal' personal trainer and some spinning and other classes. One more sprained ankle, along the way, Im getting fitter each week and Im now on the countdown to the trip starting on the 20th October.

We are taking the Lomosho route  (http://www.mountkilimanjaroguide.com/kilimanjaro-lemosho.html)   which is longer but gives more opportunity to aclimatise and hopefully increases our chance of actually summiting (contrary to popular belief many people DONT get to the top, usually affected by Altitude sickness).

I truly appreciate all support in this endeavour and will update on progress along the way.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now, and thank you soooooooo much for your support,

Sals