On Saturday 11th Feb, David and I climbed to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest free standing mountain in the world. Tired and cold, knowing how much we were raising for the ME association kept us going.
Having now got home, uploaded the photos, and recovered from itchy mosquito bites, peeling skin and yearnings for KFC, we’re pleased to have reached our charity target for the ME association! The ME association has received over £1000 in donations plus an additional £195.87 in gift aid from our justgiving page which we find phenomenal and far surpasses our expectations! Thank you all so much for this significant contribution which we hope goes along way to helping ME sufferers and we also hope by doing this, we have further raised awareness for ME/CFS.

The donation page will remain open for a short time so if you wish to further add to our success, then please do so! http://www.justgiving.com/pete-david-kilimanjaro

As some of you know, in Feb 2012 I will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro which will take 6 days, at an altitude of 19,341ft when no doubt I will be woefully underprepared. I’m doing this to raise money and awareness for sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which affects around a quarter of a million people in the UK alone.

Like me, some of you know Katie Warwick who is a sufferer, so you will already know a little about the reality of this disease and will understand how worthwhile a cause this is.

Those who haven’t come across this disease before, CFS can be debilitating, causing not just fatigue but also chronic pain. Its causes are still not fully understood and recovering from what can be a long-lasting illness is often based more on management than total cure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0w9-eQ_fKQ

There’s not a lot I can do to help my friend, or indeed CFS sufferers in general, though it seems in many cases, the Doctors can’t completely help either. What I can do, and will do however is try to raise awareness of the disease. Raising awareness amongst friends and strangers alike and hopefully as I go, I may raise some money for the ME association who will further increase awareness and research into the treatment of CFS.

I have a justgiving page for sponsorship, please, post this link around to help me raise awareness. If you have money to donate too, please do. (http://www.justgiving.com/pete-david-kilimanjaro)

There will soon be an article about this in the ME newsletter and we hope to raise as much as possible before Feb when David and I will climb Kilimanjaro, and I will know, regardless of how tired and painful it gets, it’s nothing compared to what CFS sufferers have to go through.

Please share the link: http://www.justgiving.com/pete-david-kilimanjaro