Christopher Leyshon is going to new heights to support Prostate Cymru. The charity’s Community & Sports Officer is aiming to raise £100,000 in sponsorship for Prostate Cymru over the next few years by climbing mountains worldwide. He will be aiming to summit different peaks that will total 30,480 vertical metres, the equivalent of 100,000 feet.
Chris has set his target of £100,000 to help the charity fund its first ever helpline. The proposed helpline would be a dedicated phone line manned by medical professionals equipped to answer queries about prostate issues and advise men about their prostate health. Chris is also fundraising to get PSA testing facilities on “The Boys Bus”, the charity’s awareness vehicle. The PSA (prostate specific antigen) test is a blood test which can be used as an indicator of prostate problems in conjunction with other tests.
Chris has a history of fundraising for the charity with his journey starting in 2014. Along with a few of his friends from Kenfig Hill Rugby Club, Chris climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the world’s tallest free standing mountain in support of members of the rugby club who had been affected by prostate diseases including prostate cancer. In the run up to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Chris and friends organised a series of bucket collections, ran extreme races and held events such as a ladies evening and The Big Walk, the latter of which has been added to Prostate Cymru’s annual calendar of events. The boys raised over £20,000 in total. In addition to the Mount Kilimanjaro challenge Chris also climbed Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, another mountain belonging to the seven summits.
From 2018 onwards Chris will be lacing up his walking boots once more as he tackles further peaks for Prostate Cymru. His first challenge will be the British Three Peaks on Saturday 25th August in which he will climb the three highest mountains in Great Britain: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon. Future challenges over the next few years include Angels Landing in Utah, Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains in Peru and Mount Blanc in France, the highest mountain in the Alps. To support his fundraising efforts Chris will also be taking part in a number of smaller events such as a team skydive, dinner events and Ten-Y-Fan in which he will scale Pen Y Fan ten times in a row.
Chris is fundraising offline and also has a JustGiving page open for online donations.