Eight-year-old Jacob Gibb climbs Ben Nevis to help young cousins

Jacob put his holiday time in Perthshire to good use by scaling Scotland’s highest peak for charity.

He spends time every summer with his grandparents, Neil and Gail Hoey, in Dunning, and grabbed the chance to raise over £1000 after suffering recent trauma.

The Bath youngster’s four-year-old twin cousins have recently found out they suffer from the brain disease leukodystrophy.

Following his grandparents’ footsteps they climbed Ben Nevis for CHAS last year Jacob took on the task with his parents, Kirsty and Oliver, and uncle Iain Sargeson, completing the difficult climb in good time.

Gail said, “He got a little wobble in the middle when he thought he might not go on, but he got to the top in three-and-a-half hours, which was fabulous.”

The cash will go to the Myelin Project, which carries out research into the process at the root of illnesses such as leukodystrophy.

They are caused by imperfect development of the myelin sheath, the fatty covering that insulates nerve fibres.

The most common symptom is a gradual decline in an infant or child who previously appeared well, with loss of movement, speech, vision and hearing.