Alison Inwood, Donna Kellogg and Carrie Davies climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in memory of Joe Kellogg between 21st – 30th June 2012, raising over £23,000 for the charity.
“Doing some kind of fundraising challenge for CRY seemed the only right thing to do after my fiancé Joe died from SADs in July 2011.
Myself, Joe’s sister, Donna and friend Carrie all decided to take on the heights and challenges that Mt Kilimanjaro had to offer us, standing at 5895m above sea level (ASL), it’s the highest any of us had ever been.
For the months leading up to the trek we were set on raising money and awareness for CRY, and other spare weekends would be taken up with training. Friends and family would come and support us for everything, including scaling the 3 peaks of this country (Snowdon, Scafell & Nevis). It stood all 3 of us in good stead for the days ahead and trekking up the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.
We were a group of 20, mixture of ages and personalities but we worked as a team from day 1. Some had not camped before, others hadn’t walked much further than their local shop before setting off up the mountain.
It took 6 days in total to get up and down Mt Kilimanjaro. The days consisted of long treks through different terrains including the rainforest on day 1, continuing up through the clouds on day 2, bits of scrambling on days 3 & 4. The weather was interchangeable throughout therefore we had to use all our different kit to make sure we didn’t get too hot, cold or wet!
Waking up and seeing that you’re above the clouds was just exhilarating, it was usually a blanket of clouds but occasionally they broke up and we caught a glimpse of the world below.
Our highest camp was Barafu camp at 4600m ASL, it had taken ten hours trekking the day before to get to and yet we had just a few hours to eat and rest here ready for ‘summit night’. We rose from our tents at 11pm, forced some porridge and ginger biscuits down us and layered up to keep warm (x8 layers on top!), our trekking poles were out and off we went in the pitch black, nothing but the stars and head torches for light!
Summit night without doubt was the hardest, but also most amazing part of the trip. We had to contend with the altitude effects as we were getting higher and higher, the elements battering us (the wind was so cold, our drinks bottles had to be stored next to our body heat so they wouldn’t freeze) and the fact we’d had hardly any sleep for ~24 hours.
Sunrise was at 6am, it was a beautiful sight, we could see the curvature of the earth, and this was a massive energy boost for us. Our next target was to get to Stella Point, 5790m ASL. Here we had a black tea, a sit down and some much need chocolate raisins, in preparation for our final push to Uhuru Peak.
We reached Uhuru peak about 9.30am on 27/06/12, the views and experience were exhilarating and it took all our physical, emotional and mental strength to get there but there was no doubt we had an abundance of that when we just remembered that it was all being done in the memory of Joe Kellogg, the most amazing person I have ever known, he’d have been so proud.
Alison Inwood
You can still donate to Alison, Donna & Carrie’s efforts by visiting http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/joekellogg
“We raised such a fantastic amount on our Virgin Money Giving page, much more than we could have imagined. I put a lot of that down to the bubbly personality that Joe had, everybody wanted to be around him and he always had time for everyone, with a cheeky smile on his face most of the time. We were so humbled and extremely grateful for the kind donations from so many people.
Joe died from a condition called SADS (Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome). No definite cause was found (no structural defects) therefore it was concluded an abnormal electrical fault occurred within his heart. The condition was not just undetected, it was also undiagnosed/unknown. A basic 12-lead ECG (a typical screening tool) that Joe had a few years previous did not pick up any specific abnormalities. Therefore, more scientific research, evidence and a breakthrough on this subject is vital to gain more understanding about these fatal abnormalities, to help prevent anymore pain and suffering for families and their loved ones. This is why we have decided to donate all the money we raised specifically towards the research programme that CRY undertakes.”
