Ain't No Mountain High Enough! 02/04/2009

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough!

Tanya Wells, an Account Executive at Martinez & Partners, has set herself a goal to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in September this year to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers. Tanya says “One of my friends’ children has recently been diagnosed with this terrible disease and I just felt that I had to do something to try and help out”.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes progressive disability due to multi-system failure. It affects organs in the body, particularly the lungs and digestive system, which become clogged with sticky mucus, making it difficult to breathe and digest food. They also become vulnerable to diabetes, severe chest infections, liver failure and infertility.

People with Cystic Fibrosis have a shorter life expectancy, with the average being around 31 years, but increased research methods have enabled individuals to increase their lifespan to 40 or 50 yrs old. In the UK there are 40 babies born with cystic fibrosis in every 100,000 births. When both parents are carriers, with each pregnancy there is a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with cystic fibrosis.

Tanya hopes to raise £5 000 in order to help the national Cystic Fibrosis Trust. In addition she is funding £1 000 personally to pay for her own travel expenses ensuring that every penny donated goes to charity. Tanya has a fundraising day scheduled for the 25th of May part of which will include giving away numerous prizes including a round of golf for 4, a day trip to the races and a Southampton Football Club Flag signed by all the players.

As spectacular as the views and experience will be, Tanya is definitely going to struggle. She will be sleeping on the hard ground for 5 nights and will not have access to toilets for most of the adventure. Vomiting and acute nausea are inevitable and she will certainly not have a medical crew following her, unlike the celebrities who have recently completed the same route! Tanya is aware of these challenges but says “I am taking each day as it comes and remaining positive, as I know I can’t train against the side effects.”

Mount Kilimanjaro is nicknamed the Roof of Africa and is proud to be the highest mountain on the Continent. The mountain is located in North Eastern Tanzania, near the border of Kenya and was first climbed in 1889.

Mount Kilimanjaro is actually a dormant volcano. The highest peak, Kibo, rises to 5895 m (19,340 ft) above sea level, and the summit of Mawensi is 5149 m (16,892 ft) above sea level.
Although Kilimanjaro is only 3 degrees south of the equator, an ice cap covers the crater of Kibo year-round.

Jon Garside, training officer of the British Mountaineering Council, believes “It is nothing that a reasonably fit person shouldn't be able to do. The path is a pretty gentle gradient, but you get very high, very quickly, which affects the body. You have got to walk so incredibly slowly, so as to minimise altitude sickness. Imagine an arthritic 90-year-old walking backwards - that's probably too fast!”

Tanya has already started her preparation for her climb. She is aiming to walk 12 hours each week and has joined a local gym. She has begun climbing and travelled to Wales on the 23rd of March to climb Mount Snowden, which is 3560 ft (1085m) high, equating to about 1/5th of the height on the climb that she will eventually attempt.

Martinez and Partners wish Tanya all the best on her mission. Summiting will be a fabulous achievement and much appreciated by the Cystic Fibrosis fund. All money will be used for research into treating and curing CF. It will also help provide support, advice and appropriate clinical care to the babies, children and young adults with Cystic Fibrosis in the UK.

If you wish to sponsor Tanya, you can do so at www.justgiving.com/tanyawells33