A ten-year-old quadruple amputee is going to attempt to summit a 656-foot mountain to raise money for other children with disabilities.
The climber, Luke Mortimer, is “determined” to summit Embsay Crag, in North Yorkshire. The kind-hearted youngster has dubbed the peak his ‘Everest,’ and is undertaking the challenge as an attempt to “return the favor” to charities which have helped him.
Mortimer was just seven years old when he contracted the severe bacterial infections meningococcal meningitis and septicemia. Although he survived the deadly illness, he lost all his limbs and needed 23 painful surgeries over a ten-week period to replace missing skin and address his wounds.
Ever since his family moved near the Embsay area in 2019, the plucky lad has had ambitions to summit the nearby crag, which he can see from the garden of his rural home.
This Saturday, (Nov 4) he’ll attempt the grueling trek in aid of amputee charity LimbPower and the BBC’s Children in Need (donate here), after appearing on its show last year.
“When we moved here, we were going down the road to Embsay, and I just saw the crag, and I said, ‘Mum, dad, one day can we climb it?'” said Mortimer. “It’s been a few years now, but I feel very determined about getting to the top and back down. I think the worst thing that can happen is probably rain.”
Luke’s dad, Adam Mortimer admitted the steep two-mile journey to the top of the summit and back would be a “tough challenge” for his intrepid son.
But he said Luke was intent on reaching the peak himself and would be wearing a set of shortened knee-length prosthetics called ‘stubbies’ for the climb.
“It will take as long as it takes. We don’t have a set time because I don’t want to put him under any pressure,” said Mr. Mortimer. “It’s just going to be at Luke’s pace, up and back down.”
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Charities and fundraisers set up in the wake of the amputations managed over £15,000 ($18,000) worth of donations from an army of well-wishers, allowing him to get a suite of prosthetics that he used in rehabilitation. They also paid for his first robotic arm so he could do more for himself.
Volunteer organization Band of Builders later helped his dad Adam fit the bungalow where Luke lives with a remarkable range of adaptions, which were unveiled on September 3 this year.
Luke’s challenge will begin from a parking lot at the Embsay Reservoir at 10 a.m. on Saturday, where cakes and refreshments will be sold for charity prior to the ascent.
“There’s a few people that have said they’ll come along—it’s kind of an open invitation,” said Adam. “We’ve done it at his school, we’ve put it online.”
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Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive at BBC Children in Need, wished Luke the best of luck for his fundraising initiative.
“We would like to extend our enormous thanks to Luke for taking on such an inspiring challenge and for choosing BBC Children in Need as one of the charities to benefit from his fundraising,” he said. “We wish him lots of luck for next weekend and cannot wait to see how he gets on.”
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What a courageous and adorable kid. I hope we get a followup on his attempt since it is now 4 days later. We all need his kind of inner strength.