FOLLOWING the death of her good friend Adam Evans Thomas from leukaemia, Eleanor Witnall wanted some way to express her sadness at the loss of such an inspirational friend. She decided to take a leaf out of his book and think of a way to continue his fund-raising work for Ward 10's new Cancer Care Day Unit in Withybush Hospital. She saw first-hand the caring given to her friend and came up with the idea of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the world's most dangerous climbs to raise a large sum for the Bucketful of Hope Appeal. Chatting the idea over with her long time school friend, Melanie James, who had recently had first-hand experience of the importance of the Special Care Baby Unit in Withybush, they decided to take on Mount Kilimanjaro together. Eleanor climbed for Ward 10 and Melanie, whose second child Seren had recently been diagnosed with hemi facial microsomnis, undertook the dangerous project to, in her words, "give something back to the hospital for their unstinting care and support - I do not know what I would have done if this level of expertise was not available home here; we do not realise what we have on our doorstep until we are threatened with losing it!" They saved up for the airfares and the specialist equipment they would need and started their arduous training in earnest; Melanie's husband Mike helped by becoming their trainer. They started with long walks up the Preseli Hills, pushing the children's pushchairs uphill - this eventually led to many climbing weekends on Cadr Idris and ultimately Snowdon. After painful months of training, the big day arrived. They set off for Mount Kilimanjaro in March of this year (on the anniversary of Adam's death). They had been warned about altitude sickness and the dangers of losing consciousness, oedemas etc. when climbing over 3,000feet. Mount Kilimanjaro is 6,000ft and has claimed many lives! But the anticipation and spectacle of seeing the curvature of the earth and the ice cliffs superseded their anxiety. They conquered 'Kili' in five days without ill-effects, but with many hilarious as well as chilling stories! The sponsorship and donations in admiration for these plucky young women have rolled in over the last eight months and they have reached the staggering target of £10,000 for the two units in Withybush. Their amazing story will be entered into a new web site http://www.Bucketfulofhope.co.uk">www.Bucketfulofhope.co.uk, which is under construction and will feature many amazing stories of fund-raising activities in support of our hospital. To sponsor any unit in the hospital do not forget to gift aid your donation.