Climb to top of the world will honour beloved dad
FRIEND TO SCATTER ASHES AT EVEREST BASE CAMP
A MAN is set to take on an epic challenge that will see him scatter some of his friend’s ashes on Everest.
Much-loved dad-of-two, Steven Wright, was just 42 when he lost his battle with bowel cancer. Now, family friend Ben Lloyd is hoping to raise money for Alice House Hospice by undertaking an Everest climb, where he will also scatter some of Steven’s ashes.
Steven, from the Fens area of Hartlepool, had been fit and well until November last year when he started to get a sharp pain in his side. He had been hanging a curtain rail and thought he must have pulled a muscle.
However, tests showed he had advanced bowel cancer and he died last month while being cared for at Alice House Hospice. The engineer was a much-loved husband of Melissa and adored dad of Lottie, 11, and eight-year-old Finley.
Now his friend, Ben, 34, is planning a trek to Everest base camp in October, where he will scatter some of Steven’s ashes at more than 17,500ft. The offshore construction manager is hoping people will sponsor him to raise money for charity.
Ben, who lives in the Elwick Road area of Hartlepool with his wife Emma, 42, and their sons George, 11, and eight-year-old Isaac, said what Steven and his family has gone through has been devastating.
He said: “Ste was a really lovely man. He was quiet and unassuming.
“Ste was an absolute gentleman, a role model to most other men in my eyes.
“A fantastic husband, father, son, brother and hardworking engineer. He lived for his family.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to be diagnosed like that at such
a young age. It has been heartbreaking. They have all gone through such a terrible time.”
Ben said he had already planned the trip to Nepal with a work colleague before Steven died and through a chance conversation came up with the idea of taking some of Steven’s ashes to scatter there on one of the highest points.
He said: “It just seemed like a nice thing to do and Melissa said ‘yeah, absolutely, let’s do that.’”
He said Steven’s family are also behind his bid to raise funds for Alice House through the trip.