A young girl has conquered the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales as she says a special thanks to a charity that provided support when her younger brother was seriously ill in hospital.
Eight year old Imogen Haslam, from Oundle, took on the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust. She has already raised nearly £1,800 for the charity, which provided support for her and her parents, Andrew and Faith, when Imogen’s brother John was born.
Imogen has now climbed Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales - all in the space of just 24 hours.
John was born eight weeks premature in 2018 at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, weighing 5lbs 5oz, and he was suffering from respiratory distress syndrome. This is when the lungs have not fully developed and cannot provide enough oxygen.
John needed to be ventilated to help him breathe and later underwent a chest drain.
He needed specialist treatment during his recovery and the family were transferred to The Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, an hour away from their home.
As John was admitted, Faith looked for hotel rooms near to the hospital so they could stay close by. It was around this time that a nurse told them they already had a place to stay, free of charge, at The Sick Children’s Trust’s Chestnut House, located just below the children’s ward.
For the week that John was in Cambridge, Faith and Jonathan stayed at the charity’s ‘Home from Home’ just minutes from his bedside.
Imogen said: “I wanted to fundraise for The Sick Children’s Trust because of the support they gave to my mum and dad while my little brother John was in hospital. It was such a great help to us all.”
Faith said she ‘could not be prouder of her daughter’ and said: “We had sadly lost our other son, Harry, the year before due to a viral infection in his heart so we were incredibly anxious when John was in hospital. We were reliving that traumatic experience again. We couldn’t face leaving his side in case the worst should happen and we couldn’t get back to him.
“That worry was completely taken away when we were told about The Sick Children’s Trust and how close our room was at Chestnut House. We were overwhelmed with the support we received. The charity took all those extra stresses away so we could just focus on John. Imogen also came and stayed with us for a few days so we could be together as a family and Chestnut House provided with everything we needed.
“Imogen has always loved the outdoors. She has already climbed Mount Snowdon when she was six and loved it.”
Before Imogen set off on her challenge, Community Fundraising Officer for the charity, Charlotte Coldrey, said: “This is an amazing challenge that Imogen is taking on and it’s even more impressive that she is doing it at eight years of age. We’re so pleased we could support her and her parents while John was in hospital and it’s wonderful to hear how well he has been getting on. “While we do not charge families to stay in any of our ‘Homes from Home’ it does cost the charity £40 to support a family for one night. As part of our 40 th anniversary celebrations we’ve launched an appeal to raise £237,000 which will support a family in every one of our 148 rooms for 40 nights.”
You can donate to Imogen;s fundraising efforts by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/imogenhaslam
4. Imogen's Three Peaks Challenge
Imogen celebrating finishing the challenge Photo: Midlands