This is an email sent today by one trekker to the other 18 trekkers.  Totally inspirational and heartfelt, therefore I have asked if I can share it on our blog and he has kindly agreed.  Enjoy…

Team CMN,

Bizarrely I found myself on the flight home from Nairobi to Heathrow unable to sleep all the way through, not because I was not completely exhausted from what has truly been an epic adventure over the past 10 days, but more I think because there was something which I wanted to say to you all and had not yet said.

So I thought I would spend the time productively, to write a few lines, something which I probably could not have said directly without becoming more than a little emotional.

In a rare moment of clarity, several hundred vertical metres below Stella Point, I looked around at the team in the darkness, covered head to toe in ice, all well beyond being freezing cold and clearly physically and mentally exhausted, whilst Kilimanjaro threw everything it had at us……and then some!! (Josh / Tom, I don’t think that mountain took too kindly to the ” we are going to smash it’s head in remark”).

I am somewhat embarrassed to say that it was at this moment (and not long before) that it really hit home to me, the massive personal, physical, emotional (and not forgetting financial) sacrifices that you have all made to participate in this awesome challenge and in doing so raise such a phenomenal amount of money for Caring Matters Now.

I know I speak for every parent, family member or friend of someone who has been diagnosed with CMN, when I say a massive thank you to each and every one of you for what you have all collectively achieved. I am sure you don’t need me to tell you what the kind of difference the amount of cash raised will make to a small charity such as Caring Matters Now.

For me, as I am sure for the rest of you, the last 10 days have been particularly challenging, but at the same time hugely satisfying and enjoyable.

What I believe made the trip so satisfying and enjoyable for me, was being fortunate enough to be a member of a team of highly motivated individuals, all pulling together for a common purpose.

I think the team really worked,  we had such a mix of characters, but every one of you was fantastic company and I feel very fortunate to had the opportunity to share the time and the experience with you.

As we all trudged towards Millennium Camp in the snow, in soaking wet clothing, for our final night under canvas, (as they say in Tanzania to sleep “like a fat baby”) I overheard our “Rab” clad leader (www.markkalch.com) saying, ” it is amazing what the human body can endure”.

Although I hate to admit it, he was right,  for me it reinforced something which I have believed for a long time….”What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”!

So one final thought to be proud of!

Remember in over 170 ascents of Mt Kilimanjaro, our head guide Mekke said to me he had never experienced weather as bad as we faced on Summit night! In spite of this “Team CMN” completed it’s goal!

So as a parent of a little boy with CMN, from the bottom of my heart, once again a big thank you to you all, for everything you have done!

Take care, be lucky and most of all stay safe!

See you all soon.

Perhaps its best summed up bu Josh, who yesterday said to me that on summit night what he learned about himself was “maybe i’m not invincible after all”. (He’s our youngest member of the group, at 21 years old).

Not all of us made it to summit, but everyone here faced huge challenges – planning, fundraising and training for 12 months or more before the adventure.  This was the real “charity challenge” and in this spirit i found myself last night thinking about what each member of the team brought to the trip. In no particular order then:

Nick & Stu – fearlessness, grace and perfect manners at all times…

Tom, Josh, Dave – laughter and wisecracks, often in the face of adversity and the ability to help the whole team defuse.

Simon – comedy innuendo as well as the extraordinary ability to always know who needed help to get through the hard bits

Richard – scientific reasoning and cold hard fact

Olivier – European panache and mountaineering professionalism

Jen D, Craig, Rick and Steve – grit, stoicism, guts and determination in the face of extreme adversity.

Jodi and Mia – smiles, charity, prayers and endless kind words

Joe – paternalism and fatherly instincts  (Papa Joe, you rock!)

Andy and Mark – pioneering & adventurous spirit

Kirsten – fire and passion

Jen W – organisation, order and encouragement

Mark K (our noble leader) – Ozzie lassitude and the relaxed leadership that got the best out of the team, always.

Congratulations everyone, its been a privilege.

Jim 12/10/2011

After what has been an epic adventure, we thought it necessary to give you a girls perspective of a once in a lifetime experience to trekking up mount Kilimanjaro. This final blog is dedicated to two men who have enabled each one of us to reach our full potential on this giant mountain.
First doctor Jim! We want to thank you on behalf of the team…
For waking up at 5.40am each morning to ensure us novices are fit and well for the day ahead.
For Reminding us to drink lots of water and eat lots of snakes.
For filling us girls with envy when you talk about your lovely wife Julia.
For the times you’ve missed a hot washy-washy to do your medical rounds.
For missing your lunch breaks to encourage those who are feeling weak to carry on their climb.
For having the bedside manor to allow us girls to talk about pooing and weeing and quite a bit more.
For going above and beyond the call of duty in trying to keep us all on the mountain.
For making us feel like we’re not your patients but rather your friends.
And finally for being the hotty doctor and always having your (tent) zip undone.
And now we would like to thank www.markkalch.com…
For not being BT which has helped us all to relax throughout the adventure.
For having the best smile on Kili.
For the way you interact and care for the guides and porters.
For signing us into camp each day so we can have an extra few minutes in our sleeping bags.
For your in-depth knowledge of the mountain and telling us what to expects each day.
For telling us we are one of the best teams you have worked with.
For your bear hugs when we needed them the most.
For allowing us to go to the summit sign even in the treacherous weather.
For getting me through the horrible rainy day by allowing me to follow your fit ass.
For giving us the best views each morning from our tents as you do washy-washy.
So on behalf of us girls and the rest of the team, thank you for being best guide and the best doctor we could of asked for.

Inevitably the big night saw me sound asleep at 11pm for the first time on the trek.
Thus started an extraordinary 24 hours of which everyone will have their very personal highs and lows, emotionally and physically. I’m sure everyone had a moment when they thought they weren’t going to make it.
But the story of this remarkable night wasn’t about individuals, it was about the team.
Part of my life has involved building high performing teams and I’m fortunate to have seen some great successes. Tom will immediately think of Istanbul in 2005.
And when you build a truly great team, ordinary people do extraordinary things.
Mark Bunett, creator of the Apprentice and Survivor, started with a series called Eco Challenge, an absurdly difficult Triathlon that took place in burning deserts and deep ravines.
Almost by accident Mark included a rule which said that all 4 team members had to cross the line together. And, this surprise, the focus of the programme learned the psychology of the team dynamics rather than the physical challenge.
Mark concluded that when there was negativity and tension, teams consumed energy at 5 times the rate as those where there was unity and mutual support.
The significant of this is that summit night wasn’t about 15 individuals getting to the top. It was about a team of 19 conquering Kili. Everyone played their part and everyone must take an equal share of the credit.
Although it was a considerable surprise to our guide Mark, I’m sure it was no surprise to any of us that all 15 reached the summit together. It really couldn’t have been any other way.
A word about Mark and Jim. Good leaders lead by example and create an environment in which team members can give their best. Mark – you’re a good leader mate. Even if you’re usual cheery “well you’re probably not going to die” was tested a little on summit night.
Jim – undoubtadley put the team first and in so doing sacrificed his own chances of getting to the top – something he was desperate to do. He also played a major role in supporting my Guiness Book of Records application for being the first man to summit Kili with a tampon stuck up his nose. Even Mark hasn’t tried this. I think.
When you’re faced a challenge like this it’s always useful to promise some advice for those who may follow you. All marketeers know that the basic principle of marketing are known as the 4 P’s. Well I have devised the 3 P’s of mountaineering:  Pole, Pole and Porters.
The latter, if shouted loudly and confidently enough, is guaranteed to bring the cavalcade to an instant halt. This is especially useful at times of acute breathlessness.
To conclude I’m going to modify a quote from John Wooden, arguably the greatest basketball coach ever.
“To summit Kili it is not sufficient to be WILLING to do it. You have to be EAGER to do it”.

Good-day (ref Bear)
Sooooo… The day started at Karanga camp 400m!
We were rudely awaken well before morning 6.30am by some of our fellow tent buddies moaning about lack of sleep and temperature of the night while we were snug as a bug in a rug (ref Si) in our sleeping bags.
Next was breakie, which was sound and outside, so that we could appreciate our surroundings which were pretty spectacular!
8.30am or in Bear’s terms 8.30am-9.00am we started to ascend.
The first section was made earlier due to the acclimatisation walk yesterday. As we continued, one of us gained weight in the rucksack department (ref David Taylor).
Once to the top of the 1st section, the mountain was in touching distance but first we had to make it to4600m Barafu Hut camp which was still a good few hours away!
The terrain was deceiving as it looked flat from a distance however dipped and dived, and was quite challenging in sections.
Eventually we made it to Barafu Hut camp, were the camping setup was great as there was no animals within throwing distance- as the last few nights we thought we were still in the rain forest due to the snoring! (ref Nick, Andy, Olivia and Jenny W).
After settling down, then having lunch, we were briefed about the night ahead by www.markgoodday.com and www.jimthedrugdealer.com as you know his zip is always open.
In closing, its time to rest and re-coupe for the tough test ahead.
We would also like not to forget the other 3 people who started this journey with us. so let’s do it for them (Jen D, Mark and Steve). But more importantly for ourselves and for Jodi’s charity and families involved. So let’s get ready to “smash it’s head in!”

Today has been a day of mixed emotions (more of that later). We awoke to see the 200m Barranco Wall riding up behind our camp. A few of us had seen it last night, so weren’t too surprised – those of the group who hadn’t seen it were a little ‘worried’.
The usual morning routine was interrupted by a few extra trips to the toilet tent and the distressing news that one of our group would be leaving due to an eye infection – not beaten by the mountain tho!
Goodbyes were said, then we began the ascent of the Wall. I think it’s fair to say we all found it tough going, but eventually we reached the top.
A few hours later we all arrived at the next camp, almost losing smothering of the group due to a near catastrophic pole failure!
A new camp (Karanga – Peanut) beckons and another acclimatisation walk under our belts…as I write, dinner is arriving so I’ll keep the rest of this brief.
MIXED EMOTIONS…
BAD- losing one more team member.
GOOD- being close enough to the summit to almost touch it. Plus, France beat England in rugby.

I was asked this morning, where would I rather be for my 17th wedding anniversary- with the absence of my wife and children, I cannot think of a finer group of people to be with. Although, www.markkalch.com needs to lighten up on the name calling!
Richard Fenwick

A departure tonight, from David’s light-hearted take on events to give you a flavour of the trip from the expedition doctor’s point of view.
I’m Jim, the doctor who, as it turns out, has the privilege of accompanying this happy and go lucky mixed bag of scousers, scots and a few other assorted northern types on this epic adventure.
Along with www.markkalch.com, aka Bear (as in Bear Grylls), aka captin RAB, aka Rab C Nesbitt, it’s my job to keep the team happy, healthy and fit for the days ahead.
My work started before the trip, contacting the group giving basic health advice and assessing those who have pre-existing conditions. During the days here, I’m watching every member closely throughout meals, walks and evenings to keep abreast of any emerging problems or worries.
I also have “evening clinic” after dinner – so far, fortunately only lightly attended and I keep an open door (open zip) policy so the team can approach me at any time if they or a buddy look to be having problems.
After a generally pretty successful couple of days, today it’s fair to say has been a hard day. It started early for me, around 5.40am to pack my tent, review notes from yesterday and watch sunrise reflect off Kibo.
By 6.30am I was revising my first patient, who after several days of nausea and increasingly breathless over night, we decided could not continue to ascend. This is a tough decision to make and inevitably hard for the team to hear but necessary for the safety of the individual involved. The dilemma at altitude is always to balance a person desire to summit, with their physical, psychological and emotional well-being. I heard this evening, the person involved is recovering well at the hotel.
The remainder of the day we steadily gained altitude from 3850 meters on the high altitude tundra of Shira Plain to 4500 meters at Lava Towers, passing through the barren, rocky zone before finally descending to Barranco at 3900 meters. This “walk high – sleep low” strategy is deliberate, giving the body exposure to air that is around a third less in oxygen than at sea level, before descending to safe altitude where we can acclimatise to the extreme conditions we’re exposing our bodies to.
Everyone has now has altitude sickness symptoms and all are on Diamox – mostly confined to frontal headaches, but also many are feeling the effects of fatigue and muscular aches and pains after a truly tough day walking. Other conditions have popped up along the way- nose bleeds (again very common this high up), travellers diarrhoea and even a potentially very serious eye infection gave kept me busy during the day, so that while the group rests or has lunch I’m normally found running many consultations and making running repairs to keep everyone moving gradually towards our goal.
Other issues – briefly: cold (is getting down to -6 tonight), dehydration (I pity the team as I spend all day reminding people to drink more), nutrition (poor appetite is rife at altitude) and fatigue provision all figure highly in my evening medical briefs.
As I grow closer to this extraordinary group of characters who I increasing class as friends rather than clients, I’m troubled; the doctors dilemma up here is that as the summit attempt gets closer and we gain height, the extreme environment means I may yet have to send other people down, ending their dream trip and leaving them disappointed, frustrated or worse still, hospitalised. I sincerely hope not to do this, and so far the group as a whole have done themselves proud, proving they ate fit, determined, resilient and keen to beat this mountain together.
Tomorrow, we visit the fearsome and exposed Berranco Wall with it’s notorious 300 meter cliff next to the path… For this team, it may as well be a walk in the park.

Things we have learned so far:
1. “waterproof” is a lie.
2. Vaseline should make their own labels.
3. If asking a porter for a thermarest, ensure it is seen before tipping the guy $20. maybe he’s just showing you to your tent.
4. Most importantly “waterproof” is a lie.

Today’s walk was in contrast to yesterday’s rain-soaked day. We were given the opportunity to appreciate our surroundings as our train snaked through the landscape. Most of our group climbed to Shira Cathedral to admire the spectacular views.
We have been blessed with the best view so far. Kibo rises seemingly meters from our humble campsite behind us.
Our group was beginning to suffer earlier today with some sore heads and nausea, but we seem to be coping after a quick nap and quicker washy-washy.
Our doc, Jim, continues his open door policy and holds clinics for the sick, elderly and infirm.
Group squadron leader www.markkalch.com continues to provide encouragement and tales of croc wrestling and wallaby bashing.
We are awaiting his next exciting installment at Yabby Creek with baited breath. The temperature has fallen tonight and it’s getting more and more difficult to recognise people, as they are in several layers of clothing and fancy head wear. And we have low level led lights struggling to cope in the darkness.
But we do have pancakes! In fact, the quality of our food had surprised us all and we have been treated to fine delights since we arrived on our hill.
Team spirit remains high and we continue to look out for and encourage our buddies, which is nice. I just hope Brian would approve. After all we are “the best group”.
Laters,
David

And so it came to pass that the Heavens opened and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Well, not quite. But I fully expected to find Noah and his wife with their wooden menagerie at camp.
The day started off in disastrous circumstances. It seems the labels on the “sun” vaseline and the “bum” vaseline had somehow worked their way loose. After some failed gingerly attempts at lip applications, someone in our party (name protected) now has a double supply of the bum variety. Sufficed to say Stu is not happy.
It is a curious fact of nature that water will find it’s natural case of least resistance. It is another curious fact that “waterproof” clothing does not necessarily need to be waterproof.
Cue much shivery and mild hypothermia. But things, as well as our little party, settled and we’ve progressed to destination number 2. Shura camp.
The summit itself rises above us, inviting us to the challenge. Spirits remain high despite our day, and it was incredibly encouraging to hear laughs and shouts up our winding trail.
There is no doubt in my mind that I am part of an amazing group of people who seem so determined as I am to beat this mountain. In fact, without getting too sentimental here, I would be upset not to be close to these beautiful people in the future. In fact, even our doctor Jim and guide www.markkalch.com slot quite easily into our team. Good friends and good times indeed.
Night night.
DT xx

By David Taylor

Climbing Kilimanjaro, treacherous, taxing, frightening and very dangerous at times. Yes, the 4×4 journey to Londrossi Gate was all of these. And more. Puncture aside and a poor load involved in a one-car accident, the journey seemed to pass fairly quickly. This was because our driver was trying to reach the gate before the aforementioned puncture resulted in a flat tyre and set about trying to break land speed records. They almost succeeded too until we needed to disembark for repairs. And we didn’t have a car-jack. Salvation came our way minutes later when some of our fellow Trekkers stopped to help. A short pit-stop later and some failed attempts to photograph some monkeys, we found our way to Landrossi Gate and signed for our permits. We were delayed due to the land rover breaking down but reached the start of the Lemosho route. And immediately sat down for our first break of the day. And lunch – result!
Soon we were off however, following our Tanzanian guide, Batuel, up the lush slopes. The slopes became even lusher after an hour or so when a downpour damped out boot but not our spirits- the camaraderie of the previous few days seemingly followed us up the mountain.
There were a few cheers and handclaps as we reached our first destination- Big Tree Camp.
Potentially one of the most welcoming things I’ve ever seen, Big Tree Camp welcomed us like an Oasis in the desert. Provisions were basic but seemed like luxury given the exertions we had put in of the previous 4 hours. The porters were feverishly setting up camp on our arrival and they completed their task while we unpacked our sleeping bags and provisions for the night. One quick wash later and we are now in the mess tent awaiting dinner. Which has arrived and takes priority I’m afraid.
Must dash!
So far?
So well…