On Saturday 3rd October, I am taking on Northern Ireland’s highest peak, Slieve Donard, in aid of Air Ambulance NI. 🏔️❤️

Standing at 2,789 ft, Slieve Donard is the highest of the Mourne Mountains, and I’m taking on this challenge to raise vital funds for local charity Air Ambulance NI, which needs £8,200 every single day to deliver lifesaving pre-hospital care.

There is a very personal reason why this charity means so much to our family.

If it wasn’t for the Air Ambulance, our neighbours and the first responders who came to Oren’s aid, my son Oren would not be here today.

On Tuesday 4th February 2025, Oren was out walking our dogs when, as he normally would, he had a sprint along the straight part of our country road. Suddenly, he collapsed.

I tried to wake him, but he wasn’t responding. As I was trying to call 999, our neighbour, a local farmer, arrived. He very calmly took over and immediately started CPR.

Within 10 minutes, the police arrived with a defibrillator. Another neighbour, who is a heart nurse, arrived and administered shocks to Oren’s heart, working alongside the ambulance crew.

Then, within around 20 minutes, the doctor from the Air Ambulance arrived. Together, they administered five further shocks to Oren’s heart.

Against the odds, Oren survived.

We later discovered that he has an inherited heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). He had never been seriously ill and had lived for 24 years without the condition ever being detected. One minute he was a healthy young man out walking the dogs, and the next he was in cardiac arrest.

The Shimmons family owe so much to Air Ambulance NI, our amazing neighbours, the first responders, the police and ambulance crews, and everyone who fought to bring Oren back to us. ❤️

As a family, we are collecting donations for Air Ambulance NI at my husband’s coffee and homemade ice cream business, Proper Coffee at the Fairy Glen in Rostrevor.

Now I want to do my bit too.

So, on 3rd October, I’ll be putting one foot in front of the other and taking on Slieve Donard to raise as much as I can for this incredible service.