Steve and Chris set £4k target as they trek Himalayas for kidney charity - The Redditch Standard

Steve and Chris set £4k target as they trek Himalayas for kidney charity

Redditch Editorial 5th Jan, 2019   0

STEVE Betteridge lost his mother-in-law Valerie Broome to kidney disease – and now he and his brother Chris are flying out on a fundraising mission in aid of the Kidney Patient Association.

The duo are set to scale the heights in the Annapurna massif in the Himalayas and every penny they raise will go to the caring charity.

Thanks to a huge community fundraising effort they’ve already brought in £3,000 for the cause but have set their hearts on breaking the £4,000 barrier.

“We lost Valerie three years ago,” said Steve, aged 43, who trekked the Himalayas last year with Chris Thomas from Church Hill Big Local in aid of the Roy Castle Foundation.




“That time was too soon after she died, but now we’re doing it for the Kidney Patient Association at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“A lot of people don’t realise we actually have a dialysis centre here in Redditch, on Moons Moat – it looks like an industrial unit but inside it’s just like a hospital.”


Training sees Steve and Chris tackling Snowdon twice and the Brecon Beacons on alternative weekends, Steve, from Church Hill, wearing an altitude mask to simulate the heights they’ll hit in the Himalayas – 7,000metres.

“Wearing it I look like Hannibal Lecter, which isn’t a look you want, but it reduces the oxygen available to you and I’ve simulated 6,500m in it.”

The landscape gardener admits his wife Julia is apprehensive about him doing the trip, but she, like the wider Church Hill community, is backing the brothers.

“The local community have been great – Cutting Edge hair salon held a clairvoyance evening that raised more than £1,000 and everyone has really helped out,” said Steve.

The brothers fly out next Monday, January 14 and will return late on January 28.

They’ll be there are the coldest time of the year too, with daytime temperatures rarely above freezing.

To support Steve and Chris, visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/stephenbetteridge1 .

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