Velindre fundraising Kilimanjaro Trek Ben & Steve

Hi all, as you can see from the main picture we managed to summit Kilimanjaro and have managed to raise lots of money so far. Thank you everyone for your support through all of the fundraising and planning. It has been incredible. We have had such an amazing trip and met some wonderful people, made some fantastic memories and raised money for Velindre to help people with their incredible work. We both managed to get to the summit after 5 days of hard work acclimatising and pushing ourselves to new limits. Through great teamwork and determination we achieved what we aimed to and summited on 1st Aug, after 7 hours of walking in the dark from 11pm previous night at -15C to arrive in time for sunrise. Thanks everyone again for support and if anyone still wants to donate then we really appreciate that.

Heading off today for Kilimanjaro!! Hi everyone just an update on where we are, once again a massive thank you to everyone who has donated so far and we have really appreciated all the support from friends and family. My wife Rachel has been incredible with her support throughout and is an inspiration to me with what she is going through daily.

Since start of June we have been increasing our training and have climbed Snowdon and Cader Idris twice, the last time adding on Pen y fan in the Welsh 3 peaks within 24hrs. We have raised a great amount so far and are hoping if anyone can donate to help us push towards our target of £5000 each before we head off on 25th July 2024. Thank you. Almost there!!

Since our initial post Rachel and i got married and had a fantastic day celebrating on 26/08/2023. Rachel is still undergoing active treatment at Velindre cancer Centre and hopefully is due to end in September 2024.

Hi my name is Ben, along with my friend Steve, we are fundraising for Velindre Cancer Centre in Wales by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro 5895m, which is over 5 times the height of Snowdon 1085m.

My fiancee Rachel works as a nurse in NHS Wales and recently was diagnosed with an aggressive invasive stage 3 grade 3 HER2- positive breast cancer, which unfortunately had already spread to the lymph nodes. She has been receiving chemotherapy at Velindre where the Oncology team and nurses have been a huge support through this difficult time. They provide a valuable and massively important and appreciated service to people and families at a very distressing time.

Velindre is recognised as The Hospital Of Hope, and this is made possible because of the fantastic and committed support of donors and fundraisers.

As the premier Cancer Centre in Wales Velindre is well known for providing high-quality radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, care and support to cancer patients. However, each year Velindre also spends over a million pounds on funding ground-breaking research programmes into many areas of cancer. Your fundraising efforts and donations help us continue to be the leading provider of radiotherapy and other specialised anti-cancer treatments in Wales. It allows us to fund projects which improve the experience and outcomes of patients receiving care and support here.

My friend Steve and I are attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro 5895m via the Lemosho route, in July 2024 to help raise £5000 each. We have been friends for over 30 years and both are interested in visiting different places and pushing ourselves to achieve tough goals. Follows a brief description of the trek itself over 70km long and walking upto 12hrs a day.

The Lemosho Route approaches Kilimanjaro from the West, setting out from the Londrossi gate, to the west of the mountain, we set out from the foothills through lush vegetation. Our 1st night is spent camping at ‘Big Tree Camp’ (2,780m). The next day we begin trekking slowly towards Shira Camp where the landscape turns more into ‘Moorland’ with unique shrubs & flora. We camp at the Shira Plateau which is above the cloud line, at 3,850m. From here we head towards Barranco Camp, past Lava Tower & under the ice field of Kibo – tonight’s camp is at 3,972m, just below the infamous Barranco wall. Heading out from Barranco camp, we scramble up to the top of the Barranco wall, before heading along to Karanga Camp for a night’s rest at 3,995m. The next morning we set out from Karanga to Kosovo Camp at 4,800m which takes us about 6 hours. It is here that we prepare ourselves for our summit attempt, getting in a few hours of sleep before waking up approx. 11pm.

For the next 6 hours we trek the steepest and most demanding part of the route by torch light. This is a long and gruelling trek to reach Stella point (5,730m) at Kilimanjaro’s crater rim. After a short rest we make our final traverse to Uhuru Peak, the highest point on the African continent at 5,895m. We have chosen this as a challenge due to its level of difficulty and appreciate any donations given which will go to the charity and the cost of the trip. More information on Velindre can be found on https://velindre.nhs.wales/velindrecc/

Registered Charity: 1052501