Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

This summer I will be leading a small group to climb at least 2 peaks in the Alps in the Ecrins region in 3 days.

As some of you may know I have already had some experience of climbing in the Alps, Sierra Nevada and Mongolia but this will be first time that I have organised a team and am using this as my Extended Project at Hills Rd Sixth Form College.

As this will be a personal challenge for myself and the team I also wanted to use the opportunity to raise awareness and money for a charity.

The charity I have chosen is the National Brain Appeal and specifically the Myrtle Ellis Fund which is specifically to support PCA - posterior cortical atrophy - which is the visual variant of Alzheimers causing the patient to lose vision and spatial awareness first. It is exactly the same visual variant that Terry Pratchett suffers from. The disease is different from the regular Alzheimers in that it strikes at a young age, typically affecting middle-aged, fit, high achievers in the prime of their careers and life.

The reason that I have chosen this charity is that one of my neighbours is suffering from this terrible condition and when at work was an emminent colorectal surgeon. I just wanted to use the opportunity to raise awareness as many people think of Alzhiemers being a disease of the elderly. My neighbour was diagnosed in his early 50's and is now only 60 but is now heading towards the final stages.

Please donate to put some funds into researching this condition and my commitment to you is that I will ensure that my team achieve this challenge and I will keep you all up to date. We will also be taking a poster up to each of the peaks highlighting the charity and the amount that we have raised. We are hoping to get some local and national PR from this.

Thank you in advance for your donation and wish us luck! We have set the target at £250 but please donate what you can.

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.