Sunderland dad-of-three raises over £3,500 by climbing Scafell Pike while battling incurable cancer

Chris Johnson, from High Barnes, climbed to the summit of Scafell Pike on Monday, August 9, as part of his birthday 42nd birthday celebrations.

The dad-of-three was diagnosed in December 2019 with a Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour (GIST), a rare form of cancer which affects the digestive system and despite undergoing treatment, doctors told him that it was incurable.

Following the devastating news, Chris wanted to boost the spirits of wife Lucy and their three children, Luke, Molly, and Nancy, so he set his sights on running the London Marathon in October on behalf of Children with Cancer UK.

The 42-year-old has been documenting his training journey via his Twitter account @gotthegistofit and he challenged his followers to give 3,209 likes (the height of Scafell Pike) on a tweet for him to take on the challenge – with the target of raising £3,209 in the process.

After completing the climb, Chris commented: “It wasn’t easy and my legs felt a little stiff but thankfully the weather was cool enough to walk and sunny enough for the views so I really enjoyed it.

"About two thirds of the way up the mountain, the weather became really cloudy so it meant that there were no views from the top but whole day was great fun.

"The amount of money raised from something that just started off as a daft idea is just overwhelming, people really got behind it and I can’t thank everyone enough for supporting me.”

As of Tuesday, August 10, Chris has raised £3,586.21 for climbing Scafell Pike – which brings his overall total raised to over £11,000 as he now sets his sights on his next challenge.

He added: “The Great North Run is next, it is only four weeks away now so I will be concentrating on my training for that.

"Then it is the London Marathon in October and that is when the fundraiser is set to end but I could be tempted to do another challenge after that.

"It all depends on various things such as my treatment but I will definitely speak with the charity to see what I can do.”

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