Denise is raising money for the charity 500 Miles, by taking part in a Triathlon later this year; so I've added a link to their website, To Denise's Triathlon blog, and to her Just Giving page. I'll be pestering friends and family for donations via e-mail shortly.
Denise was inspired to do something to raise money for 500 Miles after reading mountaineer Jamie Andrew's book, Life and Limb, in which he tells the story of how he lost the extremities of all four limbs to frostbite after having been trapped on top of an alpine mountain for five days in a snow-storm. How he learned to continue to live life to the full despite his disability is an inspirational tale.
Jamie's best friend, Jamie Fisher, was killed on the mountain, succumbing to hypothermia in the terrible conditions only hours before the mountain rescue team got to them. Since his recovery, Jamie Andrew has dedicated his life to his friend's memory, and has, amongst other things, collaborated with another quadruple amputee from Edinburgh, Olivia Giles, to start the 500 Miles charity.
500 Miles is dedicated to raising money to fund prosthesis equipment, technicians and clinicians in Mali and Zambia, where these services are practically non-existant. Denise's decision to support this charity is obviously prompted by my experience of the superb prosthetics service we have here in Edinburgh and Lothians, following my bike accident. She is taking on a huge challenge to raise this money, as, although already an experienced 10k and half-marathon runner, she was never a particularly strong swimmer, and had very little experience riding a bicycle at speed. She is having to learn these new disciplines to take part, so we are hoping all our friends, relatives, colleagues and ex-colleagues will chip in to try to meet Denise's fundraising target.
500 Miles is not a charity most of us can identify with: nearly everyone gives to cancer charities, because they have a friend or a member of their family who has been affected by it. Not many of us are faced with amputation, but 500 Miles is nevertheless a charity worthy of your consideration, and Denise's huge efforts are surely worth your support. Having a simple low-cost prosthetic leg can make the difference between life and death in these very poor areas; and lost limbs are all too common in a part of the world littered with land-mines following brutal wars.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading this, and I apologise for my writing style, which could use some work. Don't forget that the links to Denise's Blog and Just Giving websites, and to the 500 Miles website, are on the right of this page. Or click on the following links:
