Taking on the highest challenge for Alzheimer’s Society

10th January 2023

One of our brave staff members is scaling mountains in memory of his sister, by climbing to Mount Everest base camp to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society.

John Knight, who works as commercial manager at Peter James Homes, is taking on the climb in March – a staggering 17,600ft (5,364m) altitude – to raise money for pioneering research and treatment into Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The challenge is inspired by the memory of John’s sister, Louise, who died in 2021 at just 60 years old, after a devastating 10-year battle with early onset Alzheimer’s.

Now John wants to support other sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases and their families, by raising £5,000 through his Nepal charity trek.

He said: “I’ve always wanted to do it and a year on from losing Louise I thought ‘you know what, I’m just going to go for it’ and support Alzheimer’s Society, who do incredible work.

“Basecamp is as far as you can go if you’re a novice climber. The walk is about 90 miles and takes 16 days. But it’s the altitude that’s the real key, because you’re going extremely high, and at 18,000ft there’s only 50 per-cent oxygen of what’s at sea level.

“You can’t train for that – you don’t know how your body is going to cope.”

A medical doctor will accompany the group, but if anyone gets altitude sickness, they must leave the expedition, which takes in the summit of Kala Pattar, the famous Everest viewpoint and Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

John has been very grateful for our support in helping to promote his charity efforts.

He added that since setting up a justgiving sponsorship page, it had spurred him on to keep focused on the daunting mission.

John continued: “I read that every now and again, you should do something out of your comfort zone, and to do it for such a worthy cause is a bonus.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor John can do so at https://justgiving.com/fundraising/johnknightforlouise.