Sheffield Teaching Hospital Doctor takes on 4,514 Mile Trek to Himalayas to Raise Money for Charity

At the beginning of October Dr Claire Mills, who works for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and her friend Sarah began their journey to travel to the Himalayas to take on the challenge of a lifetime. They had planned the 4,514-mile trek up the vast mountain range to Annapurna Base Camp.

Dr Claire was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis over 35 years ago, which impacted her life hugely leading her to pause her career for over a decade.

“By rights, I shouldn't be doing this challenge. I should have poor mobility or be in a wheelchair by now. I have relapsing MS, which was fist diagnosed over 35 years ago. We are self funding the trip, so every penny donated will go straight to the charitys”

Said claire.

Half of the money that has been raised by the adventurous duo will go towards the ground-breaking research into Multiple Sclerosis done at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, which have supported Claire throughout her journey. Here are the updates we received from Dr Claire throughout her trip.

"Hello

I am finally here in Nepal and will be starting the trek tomorrow... The three flights and sleepless nights in transit make me feel slightly nervous as to how I will fare on this trek.

The good news is I with a lovely bunch of oldies. 8 of us and I'm the youngest female. The youngest male is slightly younger than me but all the others are older than me. No pressure then and we've nothing to prove except to ourselves maybe.

The guide Pasang is lovely. He says slow and steady is the way up and drinking plenty as I go.

Today we flew into Pokara and walked around the lake. It's quieter than Kathmandu but still noisy and dirty compared to home. It's also very humid and makes you sweat.

I look forward to getting higher up where humidity and mosquitoes are left behind.

Am I up to the Challenge? I think I am. Will it hurt? Probably. Am I delighted to be attempting it? Absolutely.

I think of so many people with MS who have not been as lucky as me and I am so grateful. Why me? I have no idea but I don't intend to take it for granted and I will make the most of every day that I have as a good person and an able-bodied woman.

So stay with me as I climb each day. Tomorrow will be 1500 m of ascent."

"I have just completed day 5 of the long slog. I hadn't realised just how many steps there would be. Every day for large chunks we are climbing or descending on steps. Often quite deep and some wobbly.

It is killing the quads and calves and I am feeling every one of my 59 years.

We have walked for 7 hours today and are at 2900m. Tomorrow we ascend towards Machaputari base camp at 3700m. I expect to feel the effects of altitude.

We saw monkeys today for the first time and a small green lizard. The views of the mountains are ever-changing but absolutely stunning.

We are staying in a more basic hostel today and have 2 dorms - a male and a female one.

The next two days are the pinnacle of the trip, fingers crossed."

“I’ve made it !!! Such a privilege to have done this for Sheffield Hospitals Charity and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. Thank you to Prof Sharrack who has made this possible for me. I am overwhelmed and so happy”

“We are deeply honoured to have been chosen as the beneficiary for this amazing challenge and I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr Claire Mills for her amazing journey over the last weeks, made even more inspirational when you take into account her journey with MS”

Gareth Aston, Chief Executive Officer, Sheffield Hospitals Charity.

We're over the moon and so thankful to Claire and Sarah for taking on this once-in-a-lifetime challenge and raising money for Sheffield Hospitals Charity MS Fund. Claire has raised an astonishing £5,080 towards MS Research.

Thank you, Claire, we couldn't do what we do without people like you! If you want to show Dr Claire support you can do so here