Dad climbs Ben Nevis to raise awareness for rare medical condition

Luke Cairns was part of a team of fundraisers taking on Ben Nevis in Scotland to highlight the plight of children with MCADD - medium chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency.

The disease affects one in 10,000 babies in the UK and can cause lifelong health issues as sufferers are unable to break down foods to use as an energy source.

After one-year-old Chester was diagnosed, Luke and Chester’s mum Kayleigh Bush learned that many people were not aware of the condition, which means his parents have to be careful about his diet and that anyone coming into contact with him has no current or recent illness.

“People just say: ‘Well, I’ve never heard of it so it can’t be that serious,” said Kayleigh.

“But it is - it’s life-threatening or he could go into a coma.”

In just his first year of life, Chester has already had five hospital admissions that have lasted longer than a week.

To show their support, family members and friends have begun fundraising for Metabolic Support UK, including the Ben Nevis challenge, which Kayleigh said they had found “very hard but very rewarding”.

Chester’s seven-year-old sister Harper sold raffle tickets at St Gerard’s Catholic Primary School in Thrybergh to help boost the total.

A total of £2,700 has been raised so far, with more fundraising planned in future.

You can still make a donation to the appeal at https://tinyurl.com/ChesterCairns.