Arthritic ankles and B12 Deficiency didn’t stop the News from Wales team from hiking Pen y Fan for Charity last Friday. Editors Lisa Baker and Laura Lewis (who both struggle with B12 deficiency) were joined by Food and Drink Correspondent Chris Rogers, an experienced hiker who helped them tackle the 886m peak in glorious weather.
Lisa said:
“We heard that Sophie Busson, who works for Business Beats Cancer Cymru, was really poorly with late stage 4 cancer. Sophie has young children and has worked through cancer for many months before needing time off recently, she is inspirational and has done so much to help raise money for cancer research in Wales. We really wanted to help and having lost nearly 8 stone in the past year, I wanted to challenge my physical limits and see what I could achieve now.
“Laura supports me in every aspect of running our 53 news sites, so if I was going up, she was joining me! Our friend and fellow writer Chris agreed to help us up and was an absolute legend, he had to help me down every single step of the way, so if anyone can take the credit for us doing this climb, it’s Chris!”
The climb wasn’t without incident, Laura took a tumble near the top, bruising her back and hand, and despite the early start, Lisa’s arthritis meant getting up and down the peak took nearly five hours.
Chris sustained sunburn due to the extended period on the mountain despite the 5am start. Lisa and Laura have been nursing their wounds ever since, but were proud to have achieved their ambition to scale the peak this summer despite health challenges (super-fit Chris has been on several runs since!)
So would they do it again?
Laura said:
“Really glad we did it and really grateful that Chris joined us – we would not have done it without him! Ask me again when the bruises have gone!”
Lisa said:
“I’ve struggled to walk since, my arthritis has really flared up – I probably found my limits to be fair – but I am so, so pleased to have done it thanks to a lot of help from Chris and Laura. The views were spectacular and being able to send Sophie a video from the top of South Wales was brilliant.
“I want to thank Chris for his help, but I also want to thank everyone who donated to support us. We know this money is very much needed – game-changing cancer research is taking place in Wales right now and every penny we raised will go towards it. It’s sad that money is what’s needed to get it over the line, but that’s the reality.
“Research is at a very exciting stage – meaning more people fighting cancer will have the chance to beat it. With the chance of a cure now closer than ever before, there is hope that wasn’t there when I lost my Mum to cancer in 1977.
“I don’t think my ankles could manage it again, and I wouldn’t want to burden Chris again, so I hope others will follow our fundraising efforts – but I will be cheering them every step of the way!”
Readers can donate here: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/lisa-and-lauras-pen-y-fan-challenge – every penny raised will go towards cancer research projects taking place in Wales.