Welcome to the 3 Peaks 4 Izzy Fundraiser! On the 25th May 2025 we are attempting the 3 Peaks Challenge - climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon all in 24 hours! We are doing this for Izzy Amico and her amazing parents Jo and Andy. Jo explains in her own words below just why this is so important and we (Joseph Cornell, Megan Randall, Tim Rea and Christian Cornell, a mixture of university friends and family friends) are excited by the opportunity to be doing this challenge to provide some help! We are splitting any funds raised 50/50 between Izzy's personal trust and Noah's Ark Childrens Hospice, a fantastic charity that provides expert care for Izzy and other children like her.

Izzy suffered a severe brain injury at birth due to lack of oxygen for a sustained amount of time. She was diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) grade 3 - the most severe. She has since been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, dystonia, cortical visual impairment. She is non mobile and non verbal and exclusively tube fed. As parents we were told the most we could do was take her home and ‘keep her comfortable’, and that her life would be ‘extremely limited’ and life expectancy ‘severely impacted’.

The truth is our lives have been severely impacted but with a lot of input, specialists and equipment, her life doesn’t feel limited. However all of those things come with a price tag. Izzy turns 4 in January and continues to show everyone around her that she has so much more potential to do things we were told she would not, primarily because she’s the most determined girl, with a great ‘concentration pout’ and she works harder than anyone we know, to do things most find easy. Over the last six months she has been able to push herself up to stand, she has started to take the smallest of steps in a walking frame with lots of encouragement, she can play computer games with her eyes, she’s become incredibly conversational with vocalisations and we know exactly how she’s feeling at any given time.

Izzy laughs at Peter Rabbit, and when she gets told off, and smiles when she gets attention. She shouts her head off when she doesn’t. She’s started to make choices with her switch button and play with toys she previously couldn’t. She has so much to say and tell us, but we need expert help to get her up and running with communicating with an eye gaze device.

We are stuck in a system that doesn’t presume competence. She will only get equipment funded if she can prove that she can use it – imagine telling a child they can only get a bike once they’ve proven they can ride it. A trike that supports her properly that would be excellent for her hip health as well as a lot of fun costs £3k. Weekly speech & language sessions for communication costs £6.5k a year. We’ve been lucky enough to get a spot for a 3 week intensive at NAPA UK in April which would cover 4 hours of Physio and Communication a day, and when she did that last time we saw her take her first steps – however that will cost £7.5k. All in all - she is the most expensive child, but she is so worth it. There isn’t a single person that has spent time with her and doesn’t feel the love she has to give.

Fundraising helps us continue to ensure she gets to show her true potential – like any non disabled child would get to do.