Desborough family scale mountain in honour of poorly family friend

A Desborough family has climbed Britain's highest peak to honour a family friend who is living with a lung condition.

Wayne and Emma Smith and their daughters, Aleece and Maisie, scaled Ben Nevis to raise funds for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

The family decided to combine their love of hill walking with raising awareness of Idopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

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IPF is a progressive condition where patients’ lungs build-up scar tissue, causing the lungs to lose their elasticity, affecting breathing.

Last year, Wayne, 44, and Emma, 41, with 16-year-old Aleece and Maisie,13, took up their bucket-list challenge to trek up England and Wales’ tallest peaks - Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Wayne said: “Saving the biggest until Ben Nevis we thought why not try to do something for someone else by doing the walk for charity. We decided to walk for our friend, and all other people suffering with Pulmonary Fibrosis, to raise awareness and money that can be used for research to give these people a better future.”

It took eight and a half hours to cover the 11-mile trek to the 4,411ft peak and back.

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Wayne added: “It’s been physically, mentally and emotionally hard, but we were determined to do something positive in our friend’s honour.”

The family have doubled their original target raising £1,860 and a further £140 from a cake sale held outside the High Street branch of the Central England Co-op in Desborough where Wayne works.

Go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/emma-smith220?utm_source=Facebook

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