We are a group of men who attend Hook Evangelical Church - Surbiton. Thomas wanted to do the Three Peaks Challenge as part of his bucket list. So to help him achieve this several members of our church decided to help him out!!!! It was also agreed that we would aim to raise money for the Sturge Weber Syndrome Charity - as one of Clint's daughters suffers from Sturge Weber Syndrome. With this in mind there was no turning back. All of us are novice mountain walkers, apart from Dave, who has completed it on 6 occasions. He will be our leader and guide. So it will certainly be a challenge, but well worth the effort in order to help such a small charity.
Fundraising pageThis is a rare disorder of unknown incidence and origin; although present at birth, it is NOT thought to be hereditary. Sturge Weber is usually indicated by a birthmark (port wine stain) somewhere on the face, usually involving the eye and forehead, also similar blood vessels on the brain, called an angioma. Those with SW often suffer from epilepsy, hemiplegia (a weakness or stiffness affecting one side of the body, similar in appearance to that of a stroke), glaucoma and learning difficulties. Symptoms usually occur in the child`s first year of life. Jessica who is now 11 years old, was first diagnosed with Sturge Weber Syndrome at the age of 3 and a half in 2007. One day she went into daycare as usual, but while there, suffered a tonic clonic seizure. Immediately, she was rushed to hospital as she was unconscious during the seizure, and there she was given emergency medication to prevent further seizures as well as CAT and MRI scans to find the cause. The doctors discovered a calcification on the left occipital lobe of Jessica's brain. Having sent their findings to paediatric neurologist professors, Doctors confirmed that Jessica did, in fact, have Sturge Weber Syndrome. Fortunately, Jessica is part of a small percentage of SWS that do not have a Port-wine stain birthmark. While she was very young, looking after Jessica was not a challenge, all we had to do was monitor her. But things changed in 2012, Jessica had another huge seizure, lasting about an hour, which doctors struggled to bring under control. They increased her dosages, and we started to monitor her more closely. This prolonged seizures has caused a bit of damage to her brain and as a result she now really struggles with maths,and it has since been confirmed that she has hemianopia (loss of half of the visual field). Jessica is one of the lucky ones as she only has type 3 SWS, meaning she has less visible symptoms. To raise money for more research on this disease, myself (Clint), Phil Sapey, Dave Batten, Thomas Hope-Gill, Matt Sedgwick, Doug Lacoss, Benoit Lacoss, Richard Brown, Dave McKee and Steve Wigginton will be doing the 3 Peaks in 24 hours challenge to raise fund for Sturge Weber UK. Please help us to raise funds for others less fortunate than Jessica who have type 1 or 2 SWS. They have more permanent brain damage, are often physically disabled, and have port wine stains over their face and body.
Charity website24 hours and 30 minutes
The National Three Peaks Challenge takes in the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales, often in 24 hours.