News / Kilimanjaro trek raises thousands for charity
A YOUNG woman from Sandwick who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro this summer has raised more than £5,000 for arthritis and mental health charities.
Gemma Graham, who works as a massage therapist for Injury Shetland, took on the climb to raise money for the local Mind Your Head charity and Arthritis Research UK.
The 24 year old initially set a target of raising £4,000 through a mixture of fundraisers and donations, but said it was “staggering” that she had now reached £5,236 for two “fantastic” causes.
“I’m very proud of Shetlanders for supporting me and being so generous,” Graham said. “We’re lucky to have a great community.”
Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, is the world’s highest free-standing mountain at 5,895 metres. It is a year since she signed up for the nine-day trek and it has “honestly been the quickest year of my life”.
“In preparation for going I was training in the gym over the winter and when the weather got better I was out in the hills walking,” she told Shetland News.
“Three months prior to the trip I also joined the Challenge Shetland bootcamp which was three times a week, and it was gruelling! They did a fantastic job though, because not once on the trek did I have spaegie.”
Graham continued: “To be honest it still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve actually done it and I don’t know if it ever well. It was such an amazing experience, you really can’t put it into words.
“I met some amazing people on the trip too, we all got each other through the tough times and I’ve definitely made friends for life. Summit night was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, it’s all on your head and you really have to dig deep and find that drive and remember the reason why you’re there.
“At one point I stopped and said I couldn’t do it, but I pictured my loved ones at the top and that kept me going.”
She chose Arthritis Research because her father suffers from a “really aggressive form” of arthritis and has at times been partially wheelchair-bound because of it.
“I’ve seen first hand the effects this disease can have and how debilitating it is,” Graham said. “It’s something that affects so many people and I think a lot of the time it’s overlooked.
“People think that it is something you can get when you’re older and that nothing can be done, but that’s not the case. There are so many studies going on at the moment by the charity researching into causes, treatments and much more.”
She chose to fundraise for Mind Your Head as it is a charity her family has always supported, and she is a “strong believer in reducing the stigma associated with mental health”.
“With Shetland being such a small community you’ll find it very difficult to find somebody that hasn’t been affected by this – whether it’s something they have suffered from themselves or a family member or even a friend.
“People don’t talk about it, and I can understand why. The fear of being judged is incredibly scary. You don’t want to be branded ‘different’ or have people talking about you, looking at you in a different way, but in reality this isn’t the case.”
Mind Your Head is doing a “fantastic job” of educating the public, Graham added.
- You can still donate to her fundraising page at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=GemmaGraham2
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