When my husband and daughters asked how I wanted to mark my 60th birthday, I had one big challenge in mind.

Climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

So… it’s happening. In June 2025, along with my husband David and our friends Geoff and Jeanette, we will lace up our walking boots and set off on our 6,000 metre trek up the highest mountain in Africa.

With a combined age of 239, it’s a big challenge and will push us all beyond our comfort zone.

Climbing Kilimanjaro has always been a personal dream, but David and I have decided to also make this challenge an opportunity to raise money for Sands – a charity which supports families through baby loss.

The cause is close to my heart. Last year, my niece and her partner lost their precious baby daughter Molly-Anne at just five weeks old. Their pain is incomprehensible and it has been hard to watch them struggle through their grief and sadness. I want to do something that can help support families like theirs and honour the memory of a little life taken too soon.

Sands’ work is amazing, through free bereavement support to families they really do make a difference to families, helping them navigate the most difficult of times.

It’s not a surprise to those that know me when I say I am not a natural camper! The thought of roughing it on a mountainside is the bit of the challenge I’m most nervous about. Six nights in freezing temperatures, no luxuries, no coffee or wine, no hair washing, no nice hot showers and no comfy bed.

Please sponsor me if you’re able—whether it’s the price of a coffee or something more, for all the babies who are not with us, for their parents and families, and so fewer people go through this heartbreak in the future.

If you would like to follow our adventure, when connections allow, I’ll be documenting our journey on Instagram - @denisedeemines