Drinna, my loving younger sister died of an aggressive form (metastatic) of Breast Cancer in February 2021. She was only 41 years young and passed away within a year of diagnosis during Covid when many of us could not see our loved ones for extended periods of time. It came as an unimaginable shock to us all and is still something I'm still trying to come to terms with. This challenge is to be a fitting tribute to a truly remarkable woman and to help others in a similar situation to her as she would've always wanted.

Many people have never heard of secondary (metastatic) breast cancer even though the disease kills on average 1,000 people every single month in the UK alone. Secondary (metastatic) breast cancer is the biggest killer of women under 50 in the UK, and approximately 67,000 women are living with this incurable form of breast cancer in the UK alone.

Secondary breast cancer, also known as metastatic, advanced or stage IV breast cancer, is a cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body. Parts of the body affected are usually the bones, liver, lungs, brain or the skin. Unfortunately, research into this form of cancer is very underfunded and why I’ve chosen this as my cause. There are a few charities such as make2ndscount that specialise in this research and support and whom I hope to support with your kind donations.

In the spirit of what my sister stood for in life in that she loved helping others, firstly professionally as an Optometrist through to her personal work of helping people less fortunate however she could. I will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on the 12th of September 2024 and hope to raise as much as possible for charity whilst challenging myself to the hardest challenge I’ve undertaken to date.

Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, making it one of the seven summits. Here are the seven summits in order from highest to lowest.

• Asia: Everest (29,035’/8850m)

• South America: Aconcagua (22,834’/6960m)tit

• North America: Denali (20,310’/6,190m)

• Africa: Kilimanjaro (19,340’/5895m)

• Europe: Elbrus (18,513’/5642m)

• Oceania: Carstensz Pyramid (16,023’/4884m)

The summit is in the arctic zone, characterized by ice and rock. At this altitude, categorized as “extreme”, there can be no permanent human habitation as the body is in a state of deterioration (short exposures are OK). The biggest challenge by far will be dealing the altitude as we ascend and at the summit there is 40% less oxygen than at sea level.

If I was doing this trek for one of the bigger cancer charities the entire trip would be managed by them and all costs such as transport and the trek (costs roughly over 60% of total raised) would be covered by the fundraising amount, often around £5500. However, because only smaller cancer charities do the kind of work that I’m raising money for I’ve been forced to organise it all myself.

From my research, I also found that charities employ trekking companies that take some of the shortest routes up Kilimanjaro and consequentially have a lower success rate of summiting the mountain. The only way to ensure your best chance to summit Kili is to take a longer slower route to help with acclimatisation as you ascend. So I will be taking the Lemonsho route which is one of the longest routes (8 days) but has one of the highest success rates.

Additionally, by comparing my costs to the big charities that organise it all I’m able to do it cheaper and thus raise more money if I hit the target goal. Of course, I'll also be personally contributing to the costs of travel and the trekking team required to climb Kilimanjaro.

At this stage, I’ve now booked everything, bought all my technical gear and been in training for a while now. So all that is left to do is to raise as much money as possible. As mentioned some of the money raised will be used for costs of the expedition just like the bigger charities do and the rest will go to charity.

Please consider any donation, no matter how small. We know that every penny we raise will make a difference, and I'm so grateful for your support.