Mountain challenge says thanks to stroke charity
Watching her father struggle after a life-changing illness inspired a 25-year-old woman to take on a mammoth fundraising challenge.
Holly Brown was only 14 when her father Barry had a catastrophic stroke which left him with disabilities including limited speech, and without the use of his right hand side.
Last week she completed the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of the charity which helped him – the Maidstone branch of The Stroke Association.
She said: “My dad had a stroke at 43, he was very fit and healthy, never smoked and was not overweight. They never found a cause for his stroke, the only thing they could put it down to was potential stress at his job.
“The Stroke Association do an amazing job at raising awareness of the signs to look out for, hence the reason they are my chosen charity, as you don’t expect something like this to happen to someone so fit and healthy.”
The 25-year-old, originally from Aylesford but now living in London, took on the Three Peaks Challenge to mark 10 years since her father’s stroke. She battled the elements with her housemate, Hannah Scheffler. The pair summitted the tallest mountains in England, Scotland, and Wales – Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, and Mount Snowdon – over 24 hours and 26 minutes, and Miss Brown has so far raised £1,719.
She said: “It was incredibly hard both physically and mentally, but was such an amazing experience. We ran, or more like waddled, the last leg of Snowdon to make up some time, but we’re still pretty chuffed we managed to complete it since half our group gave up on the first climb at Ben Nevis.
“The hiking overnight in the dark was by far the toughest, not knowing how far you are from anything, so there were a few tears at that point, however our group and the mountain leaders were amazing and we all kept each other going.”
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