Climbing Kili for two causes

The senior marketing manager for Marriott Hotels said: “I had to have a double knee operation last year after climbing Mount Snowdon during a practice weekend in 2013.

“I’ve now been training for three summers and I’ve had copious amounts of physio and hydrotherapy as well as steroid and acid injections.”

She may need another operation when she gets back but Denise has her sights set on raising £20,000 – to be split between Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.

Both causes are extremely close to her heart.

“My father has had three heart bypasses and now has a pacemaker,” she explained. “We would have lost him years ago without the advances that have been made in heart surgery.

“My best friend, who’s just turned 40, has had cancer twice.”
Two of her uncles have also survived cancer diagnoses.

The 52-year-old has a novel approach to fundraising – she intends asking people to donate £10 to have their names (or that of a loved one) included on a big T shirt she’ll don when she reaches the summit of the of the African peak.

> Sponsor Denise go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CLIMB4LIFE