Donations so far

                     3 Peaks for Hepatitis C

This is proving to be quite difficult for me yet each one of you guys has managed to spur me on & now I'm doing this as much for you as I am for any other reason. Your investment in my idea validate my & my fellow walkers efforts in the ultimate gesture, putting your hands into your pockets... Fantastic !!!

I recieved this Gold Medal from a very thoughtful friend, in recognition of our successful attempt at the 3 peaks. We didi It as we had planned, perfect !

Jo Morgan donated  40 Pounds 15.05.12... Jo on Facebook

Paul Taylor donated 10 Pounds 3.06.12... Paul on Facebook

Petra Wright donated 20 pounds on 4.06.12... Petra on Facebook

Kerry McPhail donated 20 pounds on 14.06.12... Kerry on Twitter

Tony Beatson donated 20 pounds in June 2012

S Collins donated 50 pounds on 31.07.12

Sue next door donated 10 pounds 30.07.12

Gemma Peppe donated 10 pounds 06.07.12

Ian Quill donated 11 pounds on 15.08.12

Ralph Salmon donated 10 pounds on 17.08.12

A big thumbs up to you guys...

Donate here if you can, all donations are most gratefully received. 

https://www.justgiving.com/peter-moore01

Peace !

Natural Highs

I emailed Anthony Nevens case manager from Compass in February this year to tell him about my idea to use the mountains in an awareness & fundraising event. I was directed to him by Nick Sinclair a pathway officer with the York branch of DAAT, he told me how Anthony & co had a scheme called Natural Highs that took people in recovery out into the countryside on various outward bound activities. They had recently completed a coast to coast bike ride & made a film of it, I watched the film & knew that they were the perfect group to approach & sure enough Anthony replied to my first email with the words, " sounds good, tell me more. " 

Anthony grasped immediately the concept of just what the mountains had to offer & what they represent. Life is a series of ups & downs, Uphill battles, down & outs,  everyone wants to be on top, the metaphors are endless. They don't come easy, we have to put in a great effort just as we do in our day to day lives, traveling the path of least resistance has it's place but there comes a point when that  goal that reward means an effort of immense strength of mind & body. Only on the summit do you truly realize that " the top feels so much better than the bottom ."

We have kept in touch ever since & so we were due to meet at the foot of Pen- Y-Ghent on Sunday 10 June, sadly I had to miss out circumstances were against us that day but that won't stop the good work. We aim to meet on Scafell Pike on 28th July world hepatitis day.

 Here is the article posted on their website...

Natural Highs on Tour

Natural Highs is a Compass specific approach to delivering recovery orientated group activities that are focused on improving health and wellbeing.

The Natural Highs programme consists of a range of motivational and team building challenge activities.  Each challenge promotes the development of personal qualities such as co-operation, clear thinking, careful observation, resourcefulness, persistence and adaptability, all of which are of value to service users in recovery.

On the summit of Pen-Y-Ghent

Natural Highs originated in Compass Selby where the programme continues to grow. On Sunday, staff and service users from Selby completed a nine-mile hike on Pen-Y-Gent, the first of the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks.  The group is supporting Peter Moore who is taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the Hep C Trust finishing on World Hepatitis Day. You can follow Peter’s blog here.

An evaluation of Natural Highs in 2011 confirmed that it gives people the motivation, courage and confidence to achieve stable and drug free lives. As a result, the programme is now being integrated across the Compass network.

Coast to coast bike ride, check it out... http://www.compass-uk.org/2011/05/18/riding-for-recovery/

Local radio & press

After posting on facebook & twitter I caught the eye of Emma Wass a freelance journalist from the bbc, she sent me a direct message on Twitter & made contact. We had a chat on the phone & without further ado she directed me to the local bbc radio station here in Sheffield. I was to be on the Rony Robinson show aired in the mornings & so I turned up on a Friday at 11am, Rony was away that day, Steve White  interviewed me filling in for Rony that day here is the program ff to 1.08.10 to hear what we had to say...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00rbzys/Rony_Robinson_18_05_2012/

Myself & Steve White

 An article in the Sheffield Star is to follow & will be posted here in due course.


Onwards & upwards...

3 Peaks the Route.

The Road Route for the 3 Peaks.

#RdToRecovery

I borrowed this map, we will travel the standard route but in reverse. Beginning at mount Snowdon here marked in red, then up to Scafell Pike & on to big bad Ben Nevis.

This challenge includes...

 480 miles of driving.

22 miles of walking.

10,000 ft of ascent.

24+ hrs of Hell on Earth.

3 countries.

& 1 or 2 footsteps

Every journey begins with a single footstep

  

3 Peaks 4 HCV... 

Given the nature of the 3 peaks challenge along with our respective health issues we aim to push ourselves but tailor the task to meet our strengths. 

First of all, we will be doing it in reverse. The standard challenge route begins at Ben Nevis, ours will end with the biggest of the three mountains. We will begin at mount Snowdon between 2 & 4am this will give us ample time to reach Scafell Pike later in the day, then away to Ben Nevis where we will allow ourselves a period of sleep, this shouldn't be underestimated as cheating as the strain upon our reserves of energy will be just as demanding as they would without rest. I, for one, am not looking forward to picking myself up after my body has set like concrete with energy levels largely exhausted, being faced with the highest mountain in the whole of the United kingdom.

Mount Snowdon

Mount Snowdon is 1085 meters high

We will form in the car park at the start of the miners track, this is the recognized start point. The walk to the summit is some 4 miles & should take 3-4 hours to for the round trip, obviously the decent times for the mountains is shorter than the ascent times.

Scafell Pike

Scaffel Pike is 978 meters high

 We will start at Wasdale Head car park then follow the road to the footpath then on to the footbridge leading to Lingmell Gill. Bearing left uphill to the river crossing near Brown Tongue & on up to the summit of Scafell Pike, then return. This trip should take between 4.5 to 5 hours. I'm told Scafell Pike has the hardest terrain up top with the crossing of a boulder field, a factor that could lead to injury when tired. We aim to go & recce it before hand.

Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis is 3,344 meters high

Our final ascent will begin at the visitors center, there is another start point at the youth hostel though it's neither here nor there, as both paths join up early on forming one single path first leading you to Lochan-Meall-an t-Siudhe the halfway point, then on to the summit, this path is known as the Pony Track, it is calculated at 10.5 miles there & back , holding the steepest ascent in the challenge.    

 The fact that we have given ourselves room to manouvre doesn't mean we are not pushing ourselves, it may be on the day we are able to push on & do the 24 hours but a sub 30 hours will do for me. Not bad for a year post 3 years solid of hepatitis c treatment & a lifetime of drug use. 

It is never too late to turn your life around. I'm surely glad I gave it a go !

Please help with a donation, if you can afford it, the Hepatitis C trust saves lives full stop... 

http://www.justgiving.com/peter-moore01. 

Onwards & Upwards...

Why the 3 peaks ?

Hepatitis C treatment can be very demanding to say the least, the term  "moving mountains " seems quite apt. So using the real things to raise awareness, that firstly, there is a treatment for hepatitis c & secondly highlighting the many ways HCV is transmitted & also to recognise the 100,000+ people who have fought, are about to fight &  fighting their way to the top of their own personal  summits of HCV treatment, to me seems very fitting. The mountians are the ultimate metaphor.

Many like myself failed HCV treatment the first time, yet tried again, some even 3 times. I have a friend Ian who is now on treatment after a liver transplant, he will have finished treatment by the time we go on July 28th, he is currently virus undetected. He's climbed his share of mountains & in turn proves that anything is possible, if your able to cope... Good luck Ian.

The three peaks has always been a goal of mine, my niece did it many years ago & my childhood friend Peter has done it many times.

During treatment I walked & I walked, some days I only made it round the block, it became an essential part of the treatment process... I'd feel much better after a walk, it would also help my appetite but most important of all, the amount of walking I did after failing treatment would set me up, ready to try again 9 months later. You must push yourself to get out, without overdoing it at the same time. You'll know within the first 100 steps how strong your body is that day... Listen to it.

[ I will add a link here to my top  tx tips, yet to be written]

I walked up Kinder Scout with my challenge partner Leroy last week, at over 2,000 ft above sea level it put things into perspective... Mount Snowdon is over 3,000 as is Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis is over 4,000. This is not going to be easy at all, yet that's just why I chose it. Treatment gave me an immense focus, which left a big hole in my day to day life after treatment had finished. Now I have such a focus once more...

Climbing the 3 peaks is fitting for so many reasons, a new focus, getting to level of fitness my newly uninfected liver has never known before but most of all it is fitting that my story of life with Hepatitis C ends with me paying it forward, at which point I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Hallamshire Hospital Sheffield for everything it has given me, every scan &
test you can name, two lots of treatment, our NHS is truly something to be proud of.

To all the staff of the hepatitis clinic & E floor, especially Dr Alicia Vedio, who goes above & beyond for me still ! Forever in your debt.


Peter

Three Peaks for hepatitis C

2012 is Britain's Olympic year, as well as being the 100th anniversary of Scott's expedition to the Pole, it is also first  year of my recovery post HCV treatment & the year in which I've chosen to take up the challenge of the Three Peaks, to reach the summits of mount Snowdon in Wales, Scafell pike in England & Ben Nevis in Scotland. Raising hepatitis c awareness & funds for the Hepatitis C Trust in London into the bargin.

In January 08 I began a 6 month course of treatment of Vireferon & Rebetol, it was a very difficult time for me & my son, who really stepped up to the plate & looked after me at my worst. 12 months later the following January 09, we received the news we were dreading... Virus still detected.

The following morning of the result I logged on to the web  using my laptop & visited the Hepatitis C Trusts website for the first time, I emailed them & Catherine Corr replied 10 mins later, offering a chat, I called her & we talked it through. I didn't know it then but my comeback had already began.

Through the trusts website a world of information came into view, vital information that would help me rethink my situation & arm me with the knowledge to move forward. I set about getting fit, walking every other day & by October 09 I was ready & willing to do treatment again , only this time it would be for 12 months, my son felt he couldn't go through another 12 months & who could blame him. My mother, who had also brought him up, had passed away in January 07, so all in all it had been a bloody hard two years & now I was asking him to go through another 18 months of hell.

He stayed by my side & in October 2009 treatment began again, only this time I was very well prepared, putting into practice all I had read through the trust & other sites along side lessons learned from my first shot at treatment, & so another 18 months of treatment began...

In March 2011 we got the news we deserved... SVR, sustained viral response. Success !!!

Now in 2012 after a hell of a year post treatment with depression along with varying post recovery health issues I now feel ready to fight another battle. That of the three peaks challenge & so having linked with the Hepatitis c Trust, Hi we can help & Compass drug & alcohol York with others yet to confirm their backing.

I once tweeted... Hepatitis c now killing more people than HIV, shout it from the rooftops. Well I aim to do better than that on the 28th July world Hepatitis day, we will be shouting a number of fact based HCV related messages from the highest points up & down the country. full details will follow, we also want others to do likewise, by reaching the top of a peak in any country & help relay our messages around the world. We will beacons of hepatitis c awareness, using one of the oldest means of communication combined with the most modern, only our beacons will be facebook & twitter

I wish to put a request out for walkers wanting to take part ideally from various HCV & rehab related organisations

We are also looking for sponsorship, there will be plenty of media interest generated by the organisations involved & by the individuals & their related stories. Everyone involved gets a mention & their logos will be posted on the challenges website.

In my opinion actions speak louder than words, so please get involved & help us do some good.

Check out our justgiving page, every little helps, in fact 1 HCV antibody test costs around 3 pounds 50 pence...  http://www.justgiving.com/peter-moore01


Peter.