The father of a four-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer has set off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for charity.
Summer Wroniecki from Cupar was diagnosed with rare cancer rhabdomysarcoma in September 2011. Her tumour was removed and she underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy to fight the cancer.
Now 18 months in remission, the four-year-old’s family want to give back to the charities which helped to support them through Summer’s illness.
Over the last two years they have raised more than £65,000 for Children with Cancer & Leukaemia Advice & Support for Parents (CCLASP).
Now, after months of training on the Lomond Hills, Summer’s father Chris and some family friends have set off to Africa to tackle Mount Kilimanjaro; they hope to raise another £18,000 for the charity.
Chris, an electrical fitter with Scottish Power in Glenrothes, told of the “nightmare” when he and his wife Karen were told Summer had cancer.
He said: “Cancer. The word we all dread. There’s hardly another word in the dictionary more guaranteed to strike that real, numbing fear which can, and does, chill us to the core.
“It’s bad enough if, as adults, we sit across from a doctor telling us we have cancer. Being told your child has cancer takes the nightmare into the realms of the darkest, most frightening place you can ever imagine.
“That is what happened to my family. In September 2011 our daughter Summer, then just a day beyond her third birthday, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour. Months of treatment involving stays in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh followed. As a family we discovered friends, relatives, neighbours with the kindest of hearts.
“Cancer is a word, yes, but it is not a sentence. Summer is in remission, at the time of writing for nearly 18 months. She and her brother Brody, now 7, were winners in the…Kingdom FM Local Hero Award 2012 for their courage.
“Mount Kilimanjaro is not just the highest mountain in Africa, it is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. That is quite a challenge. So, too, is cancer, as we as a family know only too well.
“I am looking to people for sponsorship. At the end of the day, the money generated from all sources will go a long way to help families like ours who, one day, were a happy unit celebrating a birthday and the next were in shock, wondering where it would all end.”
Anyone who wants to donate can do so on the family’s donation site: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/summer.