Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen man tops Kilimanjaro for charity

Post Thumbnail

To scale Mount Kilimanjaro is a feat for any climber.

But for Chris Plane, the sense of achievement he felt at the top of Africa’s highest mountain was even more rewarding.

For the 63-year-old from Aberdeen made it to the summit despite having Parkinson’s disease.

And along the way he managed to raise hundreds of pounds for a charity which combats disease in the poorest parts of the world.

Now back home in the north-east, Mr Plane revealed he had an unusual motivation for the challenge – a television programme he watched four decades ago which inspired him to help others who are less fortunate than himself.

He said: “A long time ago I watched a TV show, when I was about 20, about schistosomiasis – a parasite carried by river snails.

“The parasites mean you carry the effects for life and it can be very debilitating.

“I saw someone going down a river looking for the snails and it seemed a thankless task, but the story stayed with me.”

He was sponsored on his epic climb to raise money for the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI).

Based at Imperial College London, the group works in partnership with school and community health workers to provide treatment for the disease in sub Saharan Africa and Yemen.

Help is available in the form of a single drug, pranziquantel, which is administered to children and protects them from the long-term effects of the disease, which kills 200,000 people every year.

Mr Plane raised a total of £755, exceeding his initial target of £500.

The money will go a long way, he explained.

“One of these drugs costs around 60 pence so it has definitely been worth it,” he said.

“I am very pleased to be able to help people to keep treating the disease.”

Mr Plane trained hard for the expedition to ensure he did not fall short, completing many 12-mile hikes from Bridge of Don to Pittmedden, as well as scaling Bennachie as often as possible.

He conquered Kilimanjaro in seven days – but the challenge was not without difficulties.

He said: “On the sixth day I got to the second highest peak and then a fellow climber got a pulmonary edema (fluid on the lungs) as a result of high altitude sickness and he had to be stretchered down.

“When I got to the top I felt pretty elated, I was very tearful.”

And far from hampering him, his own health problems motivated him to complete the task.

Mr Plane said: “I thought to myself if I don’t do it now the Parkinson’s will take over and I won’t get another chance.”

To support his fundraising go to

https://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Plane2/

.