On 24^th October of this year, my fifty-one year old dad, Keith, and my brother-in-law, Russ, went on what was meant to be a fun day out scaling the steep, uneven slopes of Helvellyn. Unable to reach its summit the previous year, due to poor weather conditions, they were up and out as early as the light would allow, making sure that, this time, they achieved their long-awaited goal. Back at home, waiting to congratulate them, with a celebratory bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge, were my mum, sister and Keith’s two grandchildren, busily preparing an evening meal with which to greet the hungry walkers when they finally returned.

Keith, my dad & my hero, however, was never to come home.

After only an hour into their much anticipated hike, he was suddenly struck down with the severest of chest pains.
He bravely passed it off as indigestion, until, after managing to walk as far as Striding Edge, he eventually went into collapse.

The horror of seeing his friend and father-in-law in such an intense state of suffering was an acutely dreadful experience for Russ. Alone, stranded and without immediate aid, the panic he must have felt does not even bear thinking about. Not knowing what to do, he could only think to lay my dad down and immediately start CPR. Thankfully for
him, some passing runners kindly took over, while he called emergency services, but, by this point, Russ was already expecting the worst.

The arrival of paramedics, forty minutes later, confirmed his fears. No matter how hard they tried to resuscitate him, Keith’s heart had finally given out.

My poor dad had died.

As you can imagine, the aftermath of such catastrophic events have had a profoundly upsetting impact upon the lives of all those whom he was closest too. However, our family will be eternally grateful to those key people who played a vital role in trying to preserve and save a much-loved father’s life.

One such organisation is the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team who, not only responded straight away, but were of such a great comfort to my brother-in-law, Russ. Evidently harrowed by all he went through on that fateful day at Hevellyn, they did not hesitate to offer him the emotional support he needed to get him through those long, agonising
hours.

Following the news that Keith could no longer be saved, the team then brought his body carefully down from the mountain, even jeopardising their own safety in the process (one of the team sustained a serious leg injury and had to be airlifted to hospital).

If it was not for these heroic individuals coming selflessly to the rescue of others, Russ would have been clueless as to what to do and the entire experience would have been so much worse for him. The service they provided was amazing, but also free of charge, as the society is entirely run by volunteers and relies almost completely upon the beneficence of others.

Although a collection tray was distributed at my father’s funeral, with the intention of contributing to their worthy cause, it did not, for whatever reason, accumulate the amount we’d previously hoped for.

It is because of this that I am writing to you, today.

Goodwill relies on goodwill, and charity relies on charity, so, it would be wonderful if you could find it in your hearts to make a donation to their admirable institution.

So grateful am I to all they did for my dad and his surviving family, that I am determined to raise as much money as possible to make sure Patterdale Mountain Rescue continue helping lives, just as they did with ours. It is a testament to the human race that people such as these are willing to give their time, energy and money to others so gladly, and a valuable lesson can be learned from their benevolent example.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. I do hope it inspires you to make even the slightest contribution to aid these courageously heroic people.

Kind Regards,

Claire Sanderson

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