4 Years after our Director, Anthony Garbutt created a unique challenge by conquering Mount Everest in one day, without leaving North Yorkshire, his cousin has matched his achievement.
Anthony says “4 years ago, almost to the day I climbed Roseberry Topping 28 consecutive times. Roseberry stands at 1050ft so that amount of climbs takes us to the summit of Everest at 29,000ft.
I thought of the idea after seeing someone doing it the equivilant of Mt Kilimanjaro (15 climbs) and thought, i could do better than that.
It wouldnt be an stretch to say it was the single most difficult challenge I’ve ever done.”
“Daniel mentioned to me that he wanted to attempt it and I did my best to talk him out of it but of course he had his own special reasons to want to make money and as much as we knew it would hurt, I was honoured to help.”
Dan was raising money for 4Louis which is a UK charity that works across the country to support anyone affected by miscarriage, stillbirth and the death of a baby or child.
Dan explains “The 18th May 17 was one of the happiest days of our lives when we welcomed our beautiful little boy into the world! We got 3 wonderful days with Noah Theodore, on 21st May 17 we had to experience something that no person or parent should ever have to; we held our perfect little boy in our arms and said goodbye to him. Noah had stopped breathing suddenly; he was rushed to hospital by Ambulance where staff did everything possible to bring Noah back to us however his heart was unable to function effectively. The doctors gave us the opportunity to hold Noah until he peaceful and without pain passed away in our arms. What we now know is that Noah died from bacterial meningitis and whilst this does not give us any closure or comfort we understand that there was nothing we could have done differently and that he was not in pain but instead was surrounded by family & showered in love during his short life. Staff at James Cook Hospital, Middlesbrough provided us with a memory box, they took impressions of his feet & hands, they gave us the opportunity to take prints of his feet and hands and collect a lock of his hair. This beautiful box & all of other contents were provided by 4Louis.
We would like give other families the opportunity to receive such a beautiful memory box like we did. 4Louis gave us something so precious that we will treasure forever & will help us to keep Noah’s memory alive and celebrate his life with our family and other children. “
Dan started his challenge at 4.30am on Saturday morning, supported by his partner Vicky and Anthony.
Anthony said “my step son Jake who is 9 asked me why we were doing this challenge again and I explained the story. We had a baby just 5 days before Noah was born and Jake adores him, he listened, he didn’t ask any more questions other than, “what time are we starting?” I was so proud, he managed 5 climbs.”
Dan finished the monumental day at 10.58pm and reached the final summit with son Ben, nephew Jack and Anthony.
Dan has raised £1800 so far on this challenge taking his total fundraising in memory of Noah Theodore to nearly £15,000. Quotes were difficult to come by after he finished but Dan did manage “it was by far one of the worst things that I have done” which was perhaps a polite way of asking for bed.
Well done Dan, what an achievement. Congratulations and we look forward to the next challenge!
Donations can be made HERE
More information and support from 4Louis can be found HERE
