Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Trek in Jack’s memory
‘My mum found my brother dead in his bed one morning’
Pete Shears and the rest of his family tackled Ben Nevis to raise money for Special Kids in the UK, the charity that supported them throughout Jack’s life.
Jack, 9, died in 2014 as a result of complications from an infection. He was found dead by his mum. Pete, from the Woodside area of the city, said: “Jack was adopted — my mum is a foster carer and when we got him home we knew that there had been a few issues in his life.
“After he came to us, we quickly realised that he was blind and then he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
“Despite everything he went through, he was the happiest person in the world.
“He couldn’t see but he was always smiling.
“There were complications from an infection and my mum found him dead in his bed one morning. We don’t really know what caused it — my mum refused a post-mortem examination because he had been poked and prodded enough by doctors.”
Pete said the main motivation for yesterday’s attempt was to help Special Kids in the UK support other families.
He added: “It’s a charity that does amazing work — they were really helpful to us throughout Jack’s life and then his death.
“They offer a lot of support to families with kids with special needs. It can be very lonely and isolating.
“It was really hard for us after Jack’s death but the charity put us in touch with other families who had been through the same thing which helped us a lot.”
Pete and 15 others made it to the top of Ben Nevis yesterday and raised nearly £3,000 but they are still accepting donations.
Anyone who wishes to contribute to the fund can visit Pete’s JustGiving page.
A DUNDEE man scaled Scotland’s highest peak in memory of his adopted brother.