Alan’s’ Kili Climb’ For Yorkhill Children’s Foundation
Released on 28th September 2010
Alan Hewitt, Motherwell College Estates Manager, had set his sights high, hoping to raise at least £3000 for Yorkhill Children’s Foundation by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro next month. And thanks to the support of College colleagues and suppliers, friends, family, Cambuslang Golf Club, a quiz
night and a West Highland Way hike, he’s not just reached his target- he’s forging past it, with a total of £10,100 and still rising!
Alan, (49), from Strathaven, leaves for Africa on 1 October, hoping to reach the summit around the 7th. Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain - 5,895m (19,341 ft). To put that into perspective, it is six times higher than Ben Lomond (970m approx). Ben Lomond you can climb and descend in a day - Kilimanjaro takes anything from 5-10 days, depending on your fitness.
If you saw the coverage of celebs heading for the African peak as part of Red Nose Day fund-raising last year, you may remember some suffering very badly from altitude sickness. That’s the real danger for those climbing to the top and it’s something Alan will have to be prepared for.
Alan said: "Yes, I’m worried about the altitude sickness stopping me reaching the top but I’ve been training hard so lack of fitness won’t stop me. "Altitude sickness is the main thing to worry about on this climb – we all know about the problems Cheryl Cole and Ronan Keating had, climbing Kilimanjaro as part of Red Nose Day fundraising last year. But I’m confident of reaching my goal and planting a Yorkhill Children’s Foundation flag at the peak.
"The response - both financially and in giving me encouragement - has been amazing. Yorkhill seems to be close to the hearts of so many people so it’s nice to ‘pay back’ in a small way for the hospital’s efforts. I can’t thank my supporters enough."David Welch, Head of Fundraising , Marketing and Communications at Yorkhill Children’s Foundation added: "We are all extremely grateful for the amazing support Alan is giving us and the children who are patients at Yorkhill Hospital. We rely on the support of people like Alan and can’t thank him enough for a fantastic fundraising effort.
"Raising so much money is way more than we would have expected and will make a huge contribution to our work with sick children in Yorkhill Hospital. We would all like to wish him good luck on his climb. We can’t wait to hear that Alan and the Yorkhill Children’s Foundation flag are at the top of Kilimanjaro!"To support Alan’s climb and donate to Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, go to www.justgiving.com/alanclimbskili
BACKGROUND
Yorkhill Children's Foundation provides enhanced medical equipment and resources which benefit sick children and babies who are treated at Yorkhill Hospital and within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde. These can include innovative medical equipment, improvements in child and family facilities and paediatric research and training.
Support from the YCF includes:- making the children smile with ‘Clowndoctors’
- establishing a ‘Medicinema’ – the first cinema in the UK in a children’s hospital
- providing a specially adapted video screen, able to show a favourite film, attached to an MRI scanner. This helps children deal with the noise and/or long periods when they must lie still.
Yorkhill Hospital has a world-wide reputation, in the medical world, as a centre of excellence. The Foundation backs the excellent work done there by also providing research and development grants for start-up projects, Fellowships and PhDs.
For further information please contact David Welch on 0141 201 0458 or visit www.yorkhillchildrensfoundation.org