Each team member has chosen a wonderful and relevant cause they feel strongly about, so please give generously and help us reach our fundraising goal. Absolutely no donation is too small - so dig deep, brush the cobwebs off those old coppers and lets make a difference because that is ultimately what will make this challenge worthwhile. All, funds donated through our Virgin Money Giving page, and collected offline, will be split equally between our four charities. Arrangements have been set up with CRUK and Help for Heroes to ensure that all donations go directly to our chosen projects.
100% of all funds donated will go to our charities and not towards the funding of the challenge itself.
Our Charities
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is the world's leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has seen UK survival rates double in the last 40 years. Similarly, every year, CRUK help millions of people get the information they need to understand the disease. 1 in 3 people in the UK will develop cancer at some point in their lives. Therefore, it is more important than ever that we keep Cancer Research going strong, as they receive no government funding for their research.
The Upping the Andes team will be specifically directing funds raised towards 'male cancers'. Prostate cancer accounts for 13% of all cases in the UK, and 7% of mortalities. As four young men we feel it is absolutely necessary to get involved in the fight against cancer.
The Mark Donegan Fellowship
Through Cancer Research UK, Upping the Andes is also directing funds towards the Mark Donegan Fellowship.
The Fellowship was created by family and friends in honour of Mark Donegan who sadly passed away from Throat Cancer last year, and in recognition of his, and many of his close friends' efforts, in raising over £300,000 supporting the work of the Oracle Cancer Trust.
Funds donated to the MDF are directed through Cancer research UK and Oracle Cancer Trust towards supporting specific research projects into Head and Neck cancers. The projects to be supported are decided under the guidance of Professor Kevin Harrington, one of the world's leading Consultant Oncologists at the Royal Marsden Hospital. The Oracle Cancer Trust focuses on early stage projects, which are then taken up at a latter stage by Cancer Research UK.
DMRC Headley Court
Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court is an MoD rehabilitation facility for injured members of the British armed forces. The Centre offers cutting-edge clinical rehab for servicemen and women. Amputees and polytrauma patients are treated alongside Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers by 360 military and civilian staff. State-of-the-art equipment and service including the cardiovascular gym, hydrotherapy pool, gait analysis centre, and artificial limb technology lab, among many others, work in a quiet and tranquil environment to give 20,000 patients the care they deserve for injuries received in service of their country. The all-important funds donated will be directed through Help for Heroes straight to the DMRC itself.
The Charlie Waller Memorial Foundation
The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust (CWMT) was founded by the friends and family of Charlie Waller who tragically took his own life as a result of suffering from depression. The Trust has two clear aims: to improve the treatment of depression in primary care and to educate young people and families about the condition and warning signs. Shockingly, in Britain depression is the single largest killer of young men under the age of 35, highlighting the immense impact that the condition can have on young lives everywhere. Through hard work and experience the CWMT provides invaluable guidance to friends and family of individuals suffering from mental ill-health. We feel strongly about supporting the charity so that steps are taken to reduce the long term suffering and impacts of depression. We also hope that in some small way Upping the Andes will help to inspire and motivate young men and women to challenge themselves, experience new things, be ambitious and thereby foster a positive outlook.