Fundraisers take on Three Peaks Challenge to help Zachery walk
The Three Peaks Challenge for Zac Smith - Credit: Archant
A team of four men from St Neots are taking on a gruelling 24-hour challenge to raise money for life-changing surgery for a five-year-old boy.
On Friday, friends, Luke and Jason Webb, Ben Bradley and Matt Lawrinson will begin their ascent of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden.
They have already raised £3,000 for their Zac the Champ fund, which is linked to a campaign launched earlier this year by Liam and Sam Smith, of Offord D’Arcy, to raise £50,000 for surgery which could allow their son Zachery to walk unaided.
Zachery was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and a serious stomach condition that meant some of his organs were lying on the outside of his body, he also has only one kidney and suffers with reflux problems.
He has since had surgery to repair his stomach lining, but the cerebral palsy means he spends much of his time in a wheelchair or using walking aids. Liam and Sam launched a fundraising campaign in January, which has now raised £28,000, after they were told a procedure call Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), which could help Zachery to walk, was no longer available on the NHS.
SDR involves cutting the nerves in the spine that cause tightness in the legs – a dominant feature of cerebral palsy.
Mr Bradley told The Hunts Post the group has been training for the last seven weeks and they all felt a mixture of nerves and excitement about the challenge, which will be dominated by weather conditions.
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“We have already had to revise our plans as there is now a severe weather warning on Friday evening, so we are now going to start on Friday morning instead,” he explained.
“We do feel nervous, but we can’t wait to get there and get it done. The weather will play a big part as we could encounter 90 mph winds and minus temperatures. The four of us and Liam have been friends since childhood and so we were happy to do this to help Zachery who is a little trooper.”
INFO: If you would like to sponsor Luke, Jason, Ben and Matt, go to: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zachthechamp.
